PR 

.D2tl4| 
1810 



THE 

METAMORPHOSIS OF SONA; 

A HINDU TALE: 

WITH 

A GLOSSARY, 

DESCRIPTIVE OF THE 

MYTHOLOGY OF THE SASTRAS. 
BY JOHN DUDLEY, 

VICAR OF SILEBY IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 



The Divine Spirit alone is the whole assemblage of gods. 

Menu, Chap. 12. Ver. 119. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED FOR BLACK, PARRY, AND KINGSBURY, 

BOOKSELLERS TO THE HONOURABLE EAST-INDIA COMPANY, 
LEADENHALL-STREET ; 

1$p ®. Hamilton, QBe^ovioge. 
1810. 



f 






> 









PREFACE. 



/ s ^ 



The Author of this work was induced to relate in 
verse, the following legendary tale from the V ay era 
Pur and j at the suggestion of an ingenious and much 
esteemed friend; who, intending to write upon a sub- 
ject connected with Hindus fhdn, imagined such a 
poem might be properly introduced into it. The 
verses were not, however, expected to exceed the 
number of two or three hundred lines ; nor 
were they, by any means, intended to enter very 
deeply into the doctrines of the Hindu religion, or 
into a very accurate description or illustration of 
Hindu manners. As, however, the work advanced, 
the contemplation of those subjects continued to af- 
ford increasing pleasure, and to excite fresh interest ; 
and it was determined to introduce such ornaments, 

A£ 



IV PREFACE. 

as might serve, in some measure, to illustrate and 
explain the manners and opinions of the Hindus, and 
finish the pictures which the curious legend offered 
to the imagination. In consequence of this resolu- 
tion, the poem was extended to the present length, 
and thus far exceeded the purpose for which it was 
originally designed. 

When it was finished, the necessity of notes and 
illustrations became immediately apparent. Without 
such assistances, the allusions to Indian opinions, and 
the description of Indian manners, must have been 
quite unintelligible to almost every one of the author's 
friends, to whom alone it was intended to be shown. 
Such notes and illustrations were accordingly under- 
taken, as might serve the purpose of agreeably com- 
municating whatever information the subject might 
absolutely require. But, in composing this prose 
appendage, the subjects necessarily examined, were 
still found highly interesting, and matter constantly 
occurred which solicited for insertion, and when in- 
serted, this part of the work, like the poem to which 



PREFACE. V 

it belonged, was increased far beyond its intended 
size. Almost every note became a dissertation, con- 
taining, not the doctrines and principles of the Sas- 
tra alone, but many of those of heathenism in gene- 
ral, whether of ancient or modern times. The vari- 
ous ideas that occurred during this kind of investiga- 
tion, afforded the most pleasing amusement ; and the 
author, thinking he had found a clue which might 
guide him with certainty and safety, ventured to en- 
ter the labyrinths of ancient mythologies, although 
doubt had been artfully placed there to perplex re- 
search, and to render unintelligible to profane minds, 
those meaning allegories which the ancient mysta- 
gogues published only as enigmas, except to such per- 
sons as had undergone the severe probations imposed 
on the aspirant, preparatory to the communication of 
the mysterious secret, whether given in the deep re- 
cesses of the woods and rocks of Druidism, or in the 
caves and cells of Mithra or Eleusis. After having 
entered these recesses, and sported in them awhile, 
pleased with the conviction, that they will afford abund- 



VI PREFACE. 

ant space for any future range which curiosity may 
urge, or the business of collecting useful information 
impose; the author returned to the more humble task 
of writing notes to his poem, chiefly from his disser- 
tations already written; and they were accordingly 
finished in the present form, in which the learned 
reader will perhaps see that they approach to the 
thresholds of some of the most important investiga- 
tions ever made by the antiquary, the philosopher, or 
the divine. 

Before these notes were finished, or indeed almost 
before they began to wear their present form, some 
thoughts were entertained of their publication with the 
poem, and they were accordingly offered to the press; 
certainly, not from that vain hope of applause, 
which a young author is apt very foolishly to enter- 
tain, when he finds he has written enough to make 
up something like a book ; but from a persuasion, that 
the poem and the notes together were calculated to 
convey a good deal of information respecting the 
Hindus, which our countrymen do not, but yet 



PREFACE. Vll 

ought to know. Reigning, as they now do, the sove- 
reigns in India, over fifty millions of people, who 
profess such doctrines as these, stated in this poem 
and notes; and are zealously bold, moreover, to 
maintain not only at the hazard, but with the sacri- 
fice of their lives, the truths, as they believe, of le- 
gends such as this, of the metamorphosis of Sona ; 
these doctrines and opinions become highly import- 
ant ; and, to acquire, at least, some slight knowledge 
of them, becomes a duty imperiously obligatory, not 
only on the persons who may be actually employed 
in the government of the Hindus, but on those also 
who, remaining at home, may only be called upon to 
legislate for their distant fellow-subjects (for such the 
Hindus certainly are) either immediately, as mem- 
bers of the British parliament, or mediately only, 
through their representatives. Of the force of this 
obligation, let us but only think, and there can be no 
doubt, but we shall be soon thoroughly persuaded, 
that as men and as Christians, we ought not to treat 
the religious principles of such a mass of population 



Vlll PREFACE. 

with indifference, or even regard them only as objects 
of idle curiosity. 

To mention in the preface of a work, so slight as 
a poem with notes, the names of the learned author 
of the disquisition concerning ancient India, or the 
ingenious historian of ancient and modern Hindusf- 
han, may almost seem like an unbecoming assump- 
tion of consequence, in the author of this work. It 
is, however, but right to observe, that the notes 
here offered to the public, contain some articles not 
to be found in the works abovementioned, and some 
few stated with greater accuracy. In affirming this, 
however, let it be understood, that no intention what- 
ever is entertained of impeaching the diligence of 
those authors, or the accuracy of their information. 
Whatever advantages of this kind may be found in 
the present work, are entirely owing to the new and 
important communications received from India, since 
the time when those authors wrote. On saying this, 
it becomes the author to add, that he by no means 
pretends to any superiority over those distinguished 



PREFACE. IX 

writers, or even to any thing like a comparison with 
them. Indeed, his work will not bear any thing of 
the kind : it is rather a fanciful, than a serious per- 
formance, intended chiefly to amuse a leisure hour, 
but yet amusing, so as to inform, and especially to 
open the eyes of all the members of the British em- 
pire, to the undoubted fact, that our countrymen in 
India, and particularly those who have contributed to 
the publications of the Asiatic Society, have opened a 
mine far richer than those of Golconda; a mine, 
which we at home ought to encourage them to explore, 
by paying every kind of attention and respect to their 
researches, and by affording every possible assistance 
and support to their honourable labours. Should 
these lines and lucubrations of a retired individual, 
contribute in the smallest degree to either of these, or 
to any other good and useful end, the author will 
place such success wholly on the side of gain, and, 
indeed, such is the only gain he much desires. Of 
the work itself, he is free to say, it owes him nothing: 
the amusement it has afforded in the composition, 



X PREFACE. 

has cheered many an hour, and warded off the buf- 
fets of many a trouble, and therefore, whatever may 
be its fate, he will not consider the time spent in the 
composition as wholly lost, even though, hid by the 
magnitude, and eclipsed by the splendour, of other 
contemporary publications, it should come forth like 
a bubble upon the ocean, to burst unobserved at the 
very instant of its rise, and in the very next instant 
be forgotten and unknown. 



XI 



A Tahle of directions for the pronunciation of the Roman 
letters used in writing Sanscrit words, agreeably to the di- 
rections of Sir William Jones. (See Jones on the Orthogra- 
phy of Asiatic Words. As. Res. Vol. i. No. 1.) 

k is to be pronounced like a in blast. 

a . . . . a in America. 

e . nearly like a, or like the French e. 

e e in when. 

i . . ea in sea, or ee in see. 

i e in he. 

i i in merrily. 

6 o in perform. 

o ..... o in some. 

ti u in full. 

y is partly a consonant, as in yarn. 

c c in capital. 

ch tsh, or like ch in china. 

CS X. 



Xll 



g like g in gun. 

j j in James. 

n ng in ring. 

s' nearly like sh. 

t f . . . with an obtuse sound resembling d. 

When h is separated from its preceding letter by 
a comma affixed, as 9 h, the subsequent letter or sylla- 
ble must be strongly aspirated, as Hindusfhan. 

The words of the following work printed in Italics, 
are so distinguished, to shew thai they ought to be 
spoken according to these rules. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The Nerbudda or Narmada, and the Soane 
or Son A, are two of the principal rivers in India, 
and take their rise in the mountainous districts of the 
province of Allahabad, not far from the city or town 
of Ruttunpur. The former river springs from a well, 
enclosed by a wall, near a pagoda situate on the high 
table-land of a mountain, called Omercuntuc, or 
more correctly Omerchandaca, from which it pre- 
cipitates itself through the district of Mundilla into 
the provinces of Malwa and Guzerat, and discharges 
its waters by a north-westerly course into the gulf of 
Cambay. The Soane rises on the east side, at the 
foot of the table-land of Omerchandaca, and run- 
ning through the Purgunna of Pindara, in a north- 
easterly direction, where it becomes a considerable 
river, by the junction of the vast number of mountain- 
streams, it enters the Subah of Behar, and unites its 



XIV ADVERTISEMENT. 

waters with those of the Ganges, at present near Mo- 
neah, twenty-two miles above, though anciently close 
to the walls of the city of Patna ; and after tiavers- 
ing with that river the two principal provinces of Bri- 
tish India, is discharged into the Bay of Bengal. 

The temple or pagoda of Omerchandaca is highly 
venerated by the Hindus, and is visited by many pil- 
grims, who come thither to make their offerings, and 
pay their adorations, to the goddess Bkavani, there 
worshipped under the symbol of the Nerbudda river. 
The images in the pagoda are said to represent 
Bhavani greatly enraged at her slave Jo hill a, 
whose face she has disfigured, by depriving her of 
her nose, ears, and lips. Around her are a great va- 
riety of figures, representing slaves preparing a nup- 
tial banquet, all connected with the circumstances of 
the following romantic fable, which is religiously be- 
lieved to be true by all devout Hindus. Vide Ac- 
count of Captain Blunt's Journey, As. Res. Vol. viii. 
Omercuntuc is the name given to this mountain in 
the journal of Captain Blunt. This, however, is not 



ADVERTISEMENT. XV 

only barbarous in its sound, but bears no resemblance 
to any Sanscrit word ; to which language it undoubt- 
edly belongs. Europeans not acquainted with that 
language, or not regulating their orthography by the 
rules of Sir William Jones, are very apt to use indis- 
criminately, the three vowels a, e, u, when short ; 
and Captain Blunt, writing only to express the sound 
of words, appears almost always to have used the u, 
where Sir William Jones, knowing the true form, 
would have used an «, in the Sanscrit names. Hence 
it must be presumed, that had this learned writer 
written the name of the mountain, he would have 
given it the form of Omercantac, or Omercantaca, 
with the a final mute. But the word requires still 
farther correction. D and t are cognate letters, and 
if the aspirate be annexed to the c, it becomes 
Omerc'handdca, a form which the learned Jones 
would most probably have approved. In support of 
this opinion, various authorities may be adduced. 
Candaca is used in the Decan, to signify a plot of 
ground measuring about three acres, (see Bucha- 



XVI ADVERTISEMENT. 

nan's Journey). The word is evidently derived from 
the Sanscrit c'handa, signifying a portion, (As. Res. 
vol. viii. p. 379) and Charma chandaca is the name 
of a district in the vicinity of Omerc'handaca, which 
may be interpreted the district of Omer. For these 
reasons, in the following poem, the more classical 
Sanscrit term of Omerc'handaca, or Omerc'handac, 
omitting the last mute letter, agreeably to the prac- 
tice of Sir William Jones, has been used. Perhaps the 
former part of the word is not strictly correct, but it 
has not appeared adviseable to change the form any 
farther upon mere conjecture unsupported by good 
authorities. 



NERBUDDA ; 

OR, 

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF SONA, 



Honour to thee, Ganesa, sapient lord — ■ 
But next be thou, Bhavdni, most ador'd. 
Or if Nerbuddcis name thou deign'st to bear. 
Nerbudda's praises gladly we declare. 
Proud on thy front sits majesty divine, 
And bright thine eyes with radiant lustre shine 
A third far brighter mid thy forehead beams ; 
As fire it blazes — or like lightning gleams. 
Thine is the Tresul sheen : thou bidst it rest, 
In conquering guise, on prostrate Bhyroe's breast, 10 
Thy victory Para-Brahma s self approv'd j 
And Mahd Dcva saw, admir'd, and lov'd. 

B 



* NERBUDDA, 

Since then the Daityas fly thy awful face, 

And numerous blessings glad the human raee. 

Tis thine to lead thy faithful votary train, 

Far from the realms of punishment and pain ; 

To nurse their virtues, and to mark the road, 

That leads to bliss, and Indra's bright abode. 

Hence sagest Munis reverence thy name, 

And spell in Sastra lore thy matchless fame. 20 

Learn that to thee Heaven's Indras owe their birth. 

To thee the Dew talis, demi-gods on earth. 

Know thee to father Ocean's self allied , 

Know thee of Siirya'-s race the boast and pride -, 

Thee, Reba, child of Himdla they know, 

That king of mountains and eternal snow*. 

Mid Brahma's realms where mountains tower sublime 
And stretch their ridge down Decdn's southern clime, 
Stands Omerc'handac vast, in proud array ; 
His summit crown'd by pure blue fields of day. 30 

* The principal part of this address to Nerbudda is taken 
from an extract from Fay era Pixruna, received from the Pan- 
dits in the neighbourhood of Omerchandaca, by Capt. Blunt, 
of which he has inserted a translation in the account of his- 
journey. — As. Res. Vol. vii. N° 3. 



A HINDU TALE. 3 

Not such his form as vulgar mountains own, 
Worn to a ridge, or fritter'd to a cone, 
But massive at all points he meets the eye, 
And lifts a plain to kiss the upper sky. 
His jutting breast, a bulwark bold and bare, 
Firm bides the storms that furious rove in air ; 
His lower sides, by step-like steeps upborne, 
Rich emerald groves with varied tints adorn. 
There the Tamdla * spreads his leaf of gloom, 
x\nd fresh the clove-plant lends the gale perfume ; 40 
The graceful palms their plumy summits rear, 
And flowering climber's weave their garlands fair , 
Through circling shades the cociVs notes resound. 
And, blossom-fed, hum honeying swarms around. 
Such towers the Omerchandac ; sacred height ! 
For many an age Nerbuddds fond delight : 
Not more could indra golden Meru love^ 
.Or Chrishna rural Goverdhen approve. 
Here her Verandah sooth'd the scorching day 5 
Here bow'd her Dewtah slaves in long array j 50- 



* A species of the laurus or laurel. 



B2 



* NERBUDDA; 

Here she, high seated on her diamond throne, 
Daughter of gods, in heavenly glory shone 5 
Look'd down on realms below with gracious eye, 
Dispensing peace and plenty, wealth and joy : 
Hence wide as ocean spread Nerbudda's fame, 
And countless nations lov'd, ador'd her name. 

Where smile the vales 'neath Pindara's heights secure^ 
Or wind the mazes of Sohaugepur; 
And widening still, and still extending far, 
Become the fertile plains of fair Bahdr, 60 

The heaven-born Sona dwelt 5 and held his place. 
Among the noblest of bright Chandra's race. 
He lov'd, kind sprite, to cheer the labouring swain. 
And feed the progress of the growing grain : 
He lov'd beneath the rata's pillar'd shade 
Shelter'd to sit, and lend the herdsmen aid } 
And when the bright-beam'd god sent slant his ray, 
And gentlest breezes fann'd the closing day, 
From the green eminence he lov'd to view 
Fair nature freshening with the falling dew ; 70 

Then would he tune his pipe, and charm the vale 
With strains melodious floating on the gale. 



A HINDU TALE. '& 

Creation hears, and owns the lulling sound *, 
Sooth' d the gaunt wolf forgets his nightly round 5 
His feast of blood the prowling pard foregoes $ 
The hamlets rest secure, and won to sleep repose. 

Such Sona was, and thus the swains he blest 5 
And rustic rites their gratitude express'd. 
Nor did he proud their offerings disdain: 
They more endear' d his rural fair domain 3 80 

Enhanc'd the beauty of the shady dell 3 
The mountain's group, — the green hill's simple swell 5 
The rock from crystal lake reflected true j 
And groves and meads veil'd soft in distance blue. 
But chief the Omerchandac, massive high ! 
His deep dells shadowing, wins his fondest eye. 
Whether it gleams with Suryas clearest ray, 
Or o'er its sides the fleecy vapours play ; 
Or when its top the gathering Versha shrouds 
In one wild world of deep mysterious clouds 5 90 

The partial Diva loves the object fair, 
And deems those beauties grand beyond compare. 

But now great Cama, he whose magic sway 
All heaven's high deities by turns obey, 



6 % NERBUBDA; 

Resolv'd the Deva of the vale should prove 
The soft-r-the keen anxieties of love. 
Quick from his bee -strung bow an arrow flew, 
Its point an amra* fresh with morning dew. 
Right true it sped, and, with unalterd force, 
Reach'd all-creative Fancy's secret source. 100 

At first, soft thrilling, through the Deeds frame, 
With warmth well pleasing spread the am'rous flame ; 
Wak'd every sense, and bade each thought employ- 
Its busy powers in painting promis'd joy. 
Thus fed, thus fann'd the pest, and stronger grown, 
He glows with hopes and fears till now unknown ; 
Hopes, that the mistress of yon high abode 
May crown with rapturous bliss a faithful God \ 
Fears, lest she meet his truth with haughty scorn, 
And bid a God exist a wretch forlorn. 110 

As ere the coming storm obscures the sky, 
Cross Indrds dome the clouds swift gathering fly, 

* The spondias Myrobalanus of Linnaeus. 

"The heart-born god who delights in giving pain, has 
fixed in his bow-string a new shaft, pointed with the blossom 
of an amra,y Sacontald, Act IV. Scene II. 



A HINDU TALE. M 

Admitting now bright Suryas darting ray, 

Now veiling dark in gloom the mourning day 5 . ;-..-. 

Thus o'er the Diva's mind alternate reign 

Hope, bright with joy, or fear dark-rob' d in pain. 

Thus both their anxious power assert by turns 3 * 

Both feed the fire that, soul-consuming, burns. 

The Diva now no more with eye serene 
Surveys the beauties of his favourite scene, 120 

What though, with stedfast gaze, his eye be bent 
On Omerchandac, seeming all intent? 
Yet sense is shut. — By thought absorb'd entire 
He meditates, and fans Cdndarpas fire j 
Marks ev'ry incident with fondest care, 
That owns a reference to his imag'd fair, 
And dwells enraptur'd on each act of fame 
That gilds with honour lov'd Nerbuddas name. — 
The butter blazing oft in many a bower, 
With Cits' a duly spread, proclaim' d her power. 130 

Libations pour'd, and off rings frequent made, 
And prayer devout, her deeds benign display'd. 
Oft too the rich procession's festive throng, 
The sportive dance — the mystic Mantra song, 



<5 NERBUDDA; 

Wide to the wondering earth her glories told, 
And bade e'en Swergcts gods her worth behold. 
These rites indifferent had the Deva seen, 
Or own'd unmov'd the merits of the queen : 
But cool indifference Love permits no more \ 
These rites they rouse him now t' admire— adore ; 140 
Nerbudda deeming fond a blazing star, 
Through heaven's high mansions beaming bright and far. 
But ah her beauties ! — through each throbbing vein, 
In mix d disorder, trembling tumults reign. 
The sobbing sigh high heaves his mighty breast -, 
Quick throbs his heart with raging flames distrest. 
Great Maya works — His picturing fancy warm 
Blends in Nerbudda splendour, grace, and form - } 
Gives to the garland* crown its braided place, 
And spreads the musky patches on her face 5 150 

Bids them 'mong smiles live on each dimpling cheek, 
While o'er her forehead reigns the golden teic ,• 
Hangs on each ear, to dance in gay delight, 
The Condal gemm'd with Indras flashing light ; 

* " Yadava decked her braided hair and neck with fresh 
garlands." Gitagovinda. 



A HINDU TALE, 9 

Sheds the black dust* that brightens on her eyes, 
And o'er her temples leads the radiant dyes 3 
Forms her with neck of antelope, fawn-ey'd, 
Teeth that the chundaf blossoms fair deride , 
Shapes like rich pomegranates her bosom's swell, 
Bids there in sport her sapphire necklace dwell,— 160 
See graceful wave the lotos' J stalk her arms ! 
Strive not, vain bracelet, to improve their charms. 
Fair lotos' flowers, her taper fingers glow, 
Ting'd bright by Lacsha, like each slender toe. 



* " Madhava embellished her eyes with additional black- 
ness, and dyed her temples with radiant hues," Gitagovinda, 
These are probably the marks of sects, drawn in different 
coloured lines upon the forehead and temples. The former 
refers to the preparation of antimony, with which the Asiatic 
women tinge the inside of their eye-lids, to improve the bril- 
liancy of their eyes. 

f " The chunda blossom yields to thy teeth." Gifagov. 

% " Madhava binds on her arms, graceful as the stalks of 
the water-lily, adorned with hands glowing like the petals of 
its flowers, a bracelet of sapphires." Gitagov. 

" Another wood-nymph pressed the juice of Lacsha, to dye 
her feet exquisitely red." Sacontola, Act IV. Scene I, 



10 NERBUDDA; 

Gay round the gem her form the garlands twine -, 

And rings gold-beaming on her ancles shine. 

Her waist-bells seem with tinkling mirth to move, 

And call the soul to ecstasies of love : 

While powder' d sandal- wood* and musk bespread 

O'er her soft limbs their grateful fragrance shed. 170 

The fair idea thus his fancy fills : 

Such through his soul Nerbuddas image thrills. 

Like oil it feeds the soul- consuming fire, 

Like heat enflames the feverf of desire. 

Thee, hapless Sona, drooping and forlorn, 
The wonted garlands now no more adorn. 
Sad sorrow hides the moon-beams of thy face, 
Thy form neglect and wretchedness disgrace. 
In vain thy slaves the sandal- wood + prepare, 
Thou deem'st it poison in thy wild despair : 180 



* " Powdered sandal-wood is sprinkled on my limbs." Ibid. 

f " Radha sought him long in vain : her thoughts were con- 
founded by the fever of desire." Gitagov. " The fever of 
love." Ibid. 

J " If powder of sandal- wood, finely levigated, be moistened 



A HINDU TALE. 11 

The evening cool that wakes the mountain gales, 

Seems but to pour infection through the vales. 

Thy throbbing breast, it heaves with constant sighs. 

And wings a breeze hot hissing as it flies. 

O'er every limb extends the fatal flame 

That erst consum'd Candarpas heavenly frame. 

His prey as strikes the pard* with darted paw, 

While Ydma, death's grim genius, arms his jaw : 

Thus, Sona, love with onset quick assails 

Thy fainting powers, and o'er thy powers prevails, 190 

Rends thy strong strength, and sucks without control, 

In savage joy, thy energies of soul. 

Ye lovely vales— once Sonas blest abode, 
Mourn the lost favour of your guardian god. 
No more his well- tun' d pipe with mirthful sound 
Pours, at cool eve, or joy or peace around, 



and applied to the breasts, she starts and mistakes it for poi- 
son. Her sighs form a breeze long extended, and burn like 
the flame which reduced Candarpa to ashes." Gitagovinda. 

* ** Love is the tiger who springs on her like Ydma, the 
genius of death." Gitagovinda. 



12 NERBUDDAj 

But sad betrays, in many a broken strain, 

His frantic passion and his stinging pain. 

Mourn too, ye sickening plants, once Sona's care, 

And learn your patron's keenest pangs to share : 200 

Fresh health to you no more his power supplies, 

The blossom droops and fades, and fruitless dies. 

And you, O herds, in lowing moans express, 

Since Sona guards you not, your sad distress. 

Forth from the jungle now, in murderous mood, 

The tiger springs, and dyes his step with blood. 

Wide roams the wolf; and now with bold essay 

E'en howling shakals seize the living prey. 

Oft too your steps disturb the fatal snake 

Stretch' d in the grass, or coil'd up in the brake. 210 

While vex'd, your waning tribes, by furious storms, 

Murrains assail, or leanness foul deforms. 

Nor stays fair hope, with promis'd bliss to cheer 

The woes you suffer, or the woes you fear : 

For vainly strive the Devas slaves to move 

Nerbuddas breast with tales of offer' d love ; 

In vain permission, for their lord they crave, 

To meet her face, and call himself her slave. 



A HINDU TALE. 13 

More hard than thunder-stone* , she stern denies 
Her imag d beauties to his longing eyes. 220 

Wrapp'd in her pride,, she treads her mountain-plain; 
And the five-arrow' d god is held in high disdain. 

Meantime, admiring gods the Deva see 
Assume the duties of the strict Yogi! 
His home he quits, and seeks a station lone, 
Deep sunk in woods, to human feet unknown. 
A pippdl staff directs his steps unshod, 
A gourd pours water for the famish 'd god. 
Rude from his head, the hair uncomb'd descends, 
And but the Zenadr from his neck depends. 230 

A belt of munj one scanty vestment ties, 
That asks affliction from the mildest skies. 
Thus unattir'd, he meets with steady gaze 
The utmost force of Surya's burning blaze ; 
He aids that force by four surrounding fires, 
Nor scorch' d, a statue, from their heat retires. 
When too the louring year loud thundering pours^ 
From bursting clouds, the torrent-rushing showers^ 

* " If thou refuse it, thy heart must be harder than thun 
der-stone." Gitaeovinda. 



14 XERBUDDA $ 

He, from their fury while all creatures fly, 

Alone, unshelter'd, waits the drenching sky 5 240 

Imbibes the flood at every heat-shrunk pore, 

Till swoln the shape proclaims his sufferings sore. — 

He next, as seasons change, with patience bold, 

New pain solicits from contrasting cold. 

Seeks where the lymph*, slow dripping, long may shed 

Ingenious misery on his patient head. 

Meanwhile, from forth his lips no accents come, 

Save, in low tones, the dread symbolic OM! 

No task occurs, the tedious hours to share, 

Save due ablutions and the rites of prayer ; 250 

No change, but when the chandraijdna tries 

His ant-like form with more severities. 

No soothing respite wearied nature knows, 

Save when the night compels a brief repose : 

Then yields the wretch an hour to conquering sleep,. 

His roof the sky, — his bed the craggy steep, 

But forth ere Arun leads bright Suryas train, 

He wakes to tread anew the path of pain. 

* Practised by a penitent living at Benares, 179 5 - VkL 
As. Res. Vol v.N°2. 



A HINDU TALE. 15 

Such is the Yogi's task -, and such was thine, 
To win,, O Sona, Brahma s aid divine. 260 

Thus through ten yugs, great Deva, didst thou know 
The ceaseless stream of self-inflicted woe -, 
Thus didst thou pass, as sagest Munis prove, 
Ten yugs in deep devotion and in love j 
Nor pass'd in vain — At length high Brahma saw 
Thy well earn' d worth, with reverence and awe; 
And bade (hence, mortals, learn the power of prayer) 
The oil of pity sooth th' obdurate fair. — 
She owns his truth— -His merits stand confess'd, 
And Retis' influence warms her melting breast. 270 
" Go, bid," she cried, " those faithful slaves that wait 
With Sonas suit before Nerbuddd s gate ■.: 
Go, bid them tell the Deva of the vale, 
His years of pious penances prevail $ 
And great Himldyas daughter turns her ear 
To all he asks, and seeks his presence here : 
Nor shuns she now a spouse of Chandra s line , 
But wills that Sona and Nerbudda join." 

As, zephyr-urg'd, the clouds disperse and fly, 
And bright the sun rules o'er the azure sky j 280 



16 ttERBUDDA j 

As laughing flowers their ivory cups expand, 

And gay Ragims chant along the land. 

When Vishnu from his annual slumber springs, 

And, o'er creation wide, fresh influence flings : 

So from the soul of Sona sorrow fled, 

And joy awaken' d, liveliest influence shed; 

When rapid borne, on wings of gay delight, 

His faithful slaves from Omerchandacs height 

Descending came, and bade the Deva hear, 

" Thy lov'd Nerbudda is no more severe 3 290 

She now no more Candarpas power defies, 

No more she heeds not sorrowing Sonas sighs ; 

But bids the happy Deva seek and prove, 

In her high bowers, the richest sweets of love." 

Straight from his rocky couch the god uprear'd 
His languid head, half doubting as he heard : 
But transient doubts alone his soul annoy ; 
Assur'd he hastes to meet the offer' d joy, 
The garb of joy supplants his weeds forlorn; 
The new-born year thus beauties fresh adorn, 300 

Smiles on his lips with liquid radiance play ; 
Thus flowers expanding meet the wakening day. 



A HINDU TALE. 17 

His locks reclaim' d the champae* garlands twine ; 

Thus 'mong the clouds the gleaming moon-beams shine ; 

His forehead bright with od'rous oil appears ; 

Th' horizon dark, thus rising Chandra chears. 

O'er all his form Cuveras splendour gleams -, 

Thus sports blight day o'er Yamuna s purple streams. 

Light graceful from his waist the jammah flows, 

Thus on the lotos blue, the gold dust shows. 310 

His every step new majesty unfolds 5 

His course thus through the signs great Siirya holds. 

Meanwhile the busy Devatas display 
Their master's pomp, and form the long array. 
Part stand prepar'd as active peons drest 
To tell th' approach — and bear their lord's behest : 
Or fierce and martial Rajah puts appear, 
And wield the scimitar, and point the spear. 

* " Having bound his locks with forest flowers, he hastens 
tc to yon arbour, where a soft gale breathes over the banks 
" of Yamuna ; there again pronouncing thy name, he modu- 
" lates his divine reed." Gitagov. 

" His locks interwoven with blossoms, were like a cloud 
" variegated with moon-beams." lb. Whence also several 
of the rest of these similes are borrowed. 

C 



18 NERBUDDA } 

Whate'er most worth, rich Sonets vales afford, 

Others collect as offerings from their lord : 320 

And full the silver vases bright contain 

Perfumes and honey, fruits, and oil, and grain. 

Others bring gems and gold, a glittering store, 

Gifts meet for her whom Sona can adore. 

And last the nuptial robe, that, duly tied, 

Joins the fond Dtva, and his heaven-born bride. 

Now some the instruments of minstrels bear 5 

And loud the Nagdras thunder through the air. 

Now some chaunt sweet his praise, or laughing flowers 

Strew o'er his path in aromatic- showers. 330 

Next numerous Ciiliesf, tall and stout, are seen : 

And forth they bear the pendant palanquin : 

Prepar'd to share the toil in due relays, 

While onward borne, the swinging mansion plays, 

Then rang'd in order faithful Genii wait, 

To serve the nobler purposes of state : 

This the umbrella wide outspread assumes ; 

That bears the betel — these the rich perfumes : 

* According to the Piiranas, these are the honours paid to 
great persons on extraordinary occasions. 

f Ciilics, or coolies, are a race of men acting as porters. 



A HINDU TALE. 19 

Others the splendid banners wide unfold, 

And load the breeze with streaming silk and gold 5 340 

Those following, bear what most their lord may please, 

Supply his wants — contribute to his ease ; 

And last the Sirdar, big with full control, 

Learns his lord's will, and regulates the whole 

Forth splendid Sona comes—uplifted high 

He fills his slave-borne car with dignity. 

Now all prepar'd, his train, without delay, 

Toward Omer-chandac turns its winding way -, 

Threads the deep mazes of the varying vale, 

While floating music loads the passing gale: 350 

Climbs now the rocks that fence the mountains' sides ; 

Now its long length in thickening forests hides. 

The scene, exulting, kindred Devas view, 

Wish every joy, and every blessing too : 

Nor doubt that future times shall bless the hour 

When thus were wedded truest worth and power. 

Nor less is busy preparation seen 
In the high mansions of the mountain queen. 
The fairy slaves are summon' d, and fulfil 
Their mistress' wish with promptitude and skill : 360 

C2 



20 NERBUDDAj 

Part to arrange the banquet quick advance, 

Or plan the order of the festive dance. 

Those practise song, and chaunt Nerbuddas praise -, 

These tune the vine in concert with their lays. 

Those bid the agate lamp new oil receive ; 

These bring perfumes — or flowery garlands weave. 

Part lead the votive cow in chaplets drest, 

To greet with holy forms th' illustrious guest : 

Or place the friendly seat in order due $ 

Or spread the dower, rich glittering, full in view : 370 

While holier bands more solemn rites prepare . 

Construct the altar 'mid the hallow' d square, 

Nurse the pure flame, the just oblations bring, 

And bear lustrations from the limpid spring ; 

The seven-fold circles draw, whose mystic ties 

Bind ever firm the glad solemnities. — 

Nor is Nerbuddas self without her cares, 
But anxious for the interview prepares : 
Calls studious to her aid each female art, 
That deep may root her power in Sonas heart. 380 
O'er her fair form, the bath warm freshness sheds 5 
The sandal added, fragrant softness spreads, 



A HINDU TALE. 21 

The chosen vest improves her native grace $ 
And diamonds aid the splendour of her face.— 
As, lucid opening to the blaze of day, 
The lotos smiles with heavenly beauty gay - P 
So the queen, seated in her rich alcove, 
Awaits the offerings of the Divas love. 

She waits ; but waits by anxious cares opprest, 
And expectation agitates her breast. 390 

Rack'd by their force, she cried, " Johilla, friend, 
" Fairest of slaves that on my steps attend, 
" Quick to the borders of the mountain hie, 
" And gather tidings of my destiny. 
" Observe the Deva of the vales, and say 
" Whether he hither comes in due array; 
" Such as ambition's wish might justly claim, 
<c Such as becomes Nerbuddas birth and fame. 
<c But joy shall crown my soul, O faitliful slave! 
" If, lion-like, his port be bold and brave -, 400 

" If the blue lotos blossom on his face 5 
*' If his form wear the palm's aspiring grace; 
" If he be such as Her'i, when he strove 
" To win the tender fawn-ey'd Rddha's love. 



22 NERBUDDA ; 

(( Hence — haste — return ; and bid my cares subside,, 
<( And., in thy mistress, hail the happy bride." 

Johilla heard Nerbuddas new behest 5 
And touch' d the earth, her forehead, and her breast. 
Then duteous forth she went, and soon espied, 
Scaling the mid-height of the mountain's side, 410 
The Devas train. Long, numerous, richly gay, 
Stream-like, 'mong rocks and woods, it wound its way. 
The nymph, unseen, beheld with earnest eye 
The splendid Sona slowly passing nigh. 
Ah luckless hour ! — ah fatal — fatal view ! 
Parent of ills, hence destin'd to ensue : 
For while she gaz'd, Candarpas keenest dart 
Pierc'dher soft breast, and rankled in her heart. — 
Love rules Johilla now with strong control, 
Sways every motive, and possesses whole 5 420 

Of faith and duty, palsies every sense ; 
Blinds her regard to every consequence ; 
Bids her resolve, though vengeance follow sure,, 
To win the Devas love by fraudful lure 5 
And bliss, however transient, boldly gain, 
Though follow' d instant by an age of pain. 



A HINDU TALE. 23 

By Maya urg'd, her feet with agile pace, 
By nearest paths, the steep in part retrace : 
Quick she assumes, such power the DewtaJis claim, 
The martial emblems of great Durga's fame. 430 

She grasps a spear — like Suryas ray it beams : 
She wears a helm — like lightning bright it gleams : 
Studded with gems, the seven-fold quilted vest,, 
That laughs at war, defends her swelling breast. 
She takes the port— the awe- commanding mien, 
And every semblance of the mountain queen, 
With step majestic, slow, she seems to come, 
To bring the god with welcomes to her home. 
She meets the train— and bids the peons hie 
Quick to their lord, and tell, the queen is nigh. 440 

As oft at eve, from forth the woodland shade, 
The antelope quick bounds across the glade 5 
When fed by spring, and far from fear and pain, 
He feels ecstatic life in every vein : 
So from his car, light darting, Sona flew 
To meet the queen, and pay her homage due. 
O'er her bright form his eyes approaching rove, 
And drink rich draughts of reverence and love : 



24 JSEKBUDDA ; 

For smiles adorn the beamy moon, her face, 

Yet temper' d pure with dignity and grace; 450 

Her limbs the waving lotos' grace combine 

With the firm grandeur of the mountain pine. 

Thrice Sona bow'd with salutation meet, 

And touch'd with holy reverence her feet* : 

And thrice his hand plac'd on his glowing breast, 

The faithful fervour of his love exprest. 

Then thus he spoke : " May glorious Chandra shed 

<c His amplest blessings on Nerbuddas head : 

" For she not only deigns, at length, to hear 

" The suit most lowly of her slave sincere, - 460 

" But quitting now her mountain bright abode, 

" Befitting well the daughter of a god, 

" Meets my approach, and bids my soul receive 

<e Those joys the musk, her favour sweet can give." 

* The practice of showing honour by touching the feet of 
the person honoured, is very ancient. Menus, among the va- 
rious modes of respect which the Brahmachari, or religious 
student, is to pay toward the person and family of his precep- 
tor, orders, that the young wife of the preceptor must not be 
greeted even by the ceremony of touching the feet, but that, 
on his return from a journey, he must once touch the feet of 
his preceptor's aged wife. Menu: chap. 2. v. 212, 21 6. 



A HINDU TALE. 25 

Johilla answered, ec Anxious forth I came 
<c To meet thee, Sona, favourite of fame : 
<c Attend, and hear, and trust Nerbuddas word - 7 
<c I joy to meet thee now, son of my lord*." — 
<c And dost thou call me husband?" Sona cries, 
The diamond pleasure sparkling in his eyes : 470 

(< O happiness ! — O honour ! — glory ! — joy ! 
<c Bright is the portion of my destiny. 
ei Thy lot with mine, ne'er, Madhava, compare, 
Ci Thou spouse of Rddhd, lotos-footed fair 3 
<c Nor you, ye sprites, that Amtiravati hold 
ee On Merus heights 'mid glittering gems and gold -, 
" Or feast in verdant Nandands alcoves - y 
€( Or share true virtue's meed, celestial loves. 
<c Your splendours, pleasures, gladly I'd resign, 
" For this my lot; — Nerbudda now is mine !" 480 

O'er the nymph's face, half downward bent, the smile 
Play'd in glad triumph at her prospering guile : 

* Sacontala. <( Let the son of my lord make haste to tie 
on the bracelet." 

Dushmanta, <( Now am I truly blessed." — That phrase, 
the son of my lord, is applied only to a husband. 

Sacontala, Act III. 



26 NERBUDDAJ 

Then thus with modest accent mild she strove 

To rule the transports of the Devds love : 

" Surely,, my much-lov'd lord now needs repose, 

" For fierce with Suryas beam the welkin glows : 

<c And steep th' acclivity, and long the road, 

(< That hither leads from Sonas lov'd abode ; 

V Then hear of rest. — Hard by, a cavern wide 

<c Its deep space borrows from the mountain's side. 490 

i( From the arch'd roof, bright crystal spars depend^ 

" And dripping drops at intervals descend, 

ic Diffusing cool 5 — nor dare fell heat invade 

fC That guarded house of solitude and shade 3 

" Where rapt Sandy ssi silence lone abides, 

iC And knows no sound, save of the rill that glides 

ce 'Mong the smooth pebbles, — and in tinkling lays 

<c Asks him to hear his reverential praise. 

<c 'Tis nature's Choultry. — On a mossy bed, 

fC Woo'd by the breeze, my lord shall rest his head 5 500 

<e Or half-reclined shall view, and bid me know, 

t( The distant prospects of the vale below." — 

* ( Wait here, my slaves," th' exulting Deva cry'd ; 

4( And O ! delight dwells in thy words, my bride ! 



A HINDU TALE. 2? 

€c Seek we the cave, and there the countless hours 
iC Shall roll in bliss : for heavenly love is ours !" 

Meantime, the demon of impatience grim, 
Follow' d by madness, rage, vexation, whim, 
Reigns o'«r Nerbuddas mind, and spiteful plies 
Her brain with painful possibilities. 510 

€C What stays," she weens, cc Johillas wish'd return? 
" Is Sona faithless ? must I slighted mourn? 
ce O, maddening thought ! —Perchance bewilder' d, lost, 
({ He treads the wilds of Omerchandacs coast. 
" Nor yet Johilla. comes. — Can she too stray ? 
fe Slights she my orders? — dare she disobey? 
u Though fine like air her frame, perhaps with pain 
iC The Ndgas poison thrills through every vein. 
€< Perchance the tiger's bloody fangs may tear 
<( Her sylph-like form, and give her to despair. 520 
(C Ah dire mishap ! — No longer let me wait, 
" With coward fears, the dread awards of fate . 
<c What ho, ye slaves ! my Vahdn quick prepare, — 
" My search shall traverse wide the realms of air 5 
€< Nor shall it cease, until Nerbudda know 
" What fate awaits her, be it joy or woe." 



*2S NERBUDDA; 

As o'er the steep of blest Cailasas side, 
With wheeling speed, the scatter' d vapours glide, 
When mighty Suryas all-prevailing ray 
Subdues the clouds, and vindicates the day 5 530 

So o'er her mountain steeps, in anxious haste, 
By pillowy clouds upborne, Nerbudda pass'd, 
Searching each dell : — ere long, with mad surprise, 
The twofold objects of her search she spies. 
Screen' d by the cavern's brow from burning day, 
On moss reclin'd, the amorous Deva lay ; 
And, all intent on fair Johillas charms, 
Fond woo'd his love, or clasp' d her in his arms. 

Ah, spare me, goddess, should my vent'rous lay 
Thine anger mortal, dreaded, dare display : 540 

For o'er thy brow the thickening tempests lour -, 
Wrathful thine eyes the streaming lightnings pour 5 
Loud in thy voice the bellowing thunders sound : 
Surprise and awe the amorous pair confound. 
" And canst thou, basest Deva, — canst thou dare 
<e Permit that slave thy plighted love to share? 
" Dar'st thou for her Nerbudda s self despise ? 
" And am I hateful to thy hated eyes ? 



A HINDU TALE, 29 

" Thou scorn'st my power. Know,sonofC/mwdra'sline, 
" Thy power is empty air oppos'd to mine. 550 

" Presumptuous wretch, this instant — instant know, 
" What ills betide when I appear thy foe." 

Thus rag'd the queen. — Then from her car she strode, 
And sudden seiz'd the wondering trembling god ; 
With grasp like Indrds, when he erst with ease 
Whirl' d Mandtiras mass— churning the foaming seas. 
Not with an arm more potent, Siva threw 
The thundering bolts on Ditis impious crew, 
Than she the Deva huii'd with sudden throw, 
Astonish' d — shrieking, to the vales below. 560 

Urg'd onward by her anger's furious storm 
He hies — and whirling quits his god-like form. 
His limbs, to atoms shiver' d, scattering fly, 
A bloody shower, swift darting from the sky . 
O'er the grey rocks they pelting, pattering, bound, 
And what was Sona once, flows trickling wide around, 

Nerbudda saw the deed ; and scowling smil'd, 
Then turning quick, and looking vengeance wild, 
Her trembling slave she seiz'd, and scornful cast 
Full into th' arms of the careering blast \ 570 



30 NERBUBBA 5 

And bade the howling genius straight convey 

To Omerchandacs halls his trusted prey. 

Thither arriv'd — " O ! treacherous slave/' she cry'd, 

" What justest vengeance may inflict, abide ! (fair, 

" Vain wretch — thou thoughtest once that thou wert 

" Thus — thus thy ears, thy nose, thy lips, I tear. 

i( Go now disfigur'd, foul, and strive to move, 

" Bleeding aghast, thy paramour to love. 

<c And you, ye walls, once — once my fond delight, 

" Proofs now of wrongs, and hateful to my sight ; 580 

" And you, ye slaves, that grac'd my lov'd abode, 

" And feign' d obedience to your mistress' nod, 

" Begone — nor be your traces ever known, 

" But leave that wretch unpitied and alone. 

<( Far from this spot your injur' d mistress flies, 

<c To happier realms, and happier destinies." 

Then spoke she Mantras dire — The massy mound 
Of Omerchandac shook convulsive round, 
And deep groans loudly, widely rumbling, heard, 
In awful tones his sorrowing soul declar'd. 590 

Pale fear awakes to triumph : — for behold, 
The shivering rocks their stony gates unfold 



A HINDU TALE. 31 

Wide-yawning ! and in caverns deep display 

Earth's darkling mysteries to the prying day. 

Shriek' d Cdlis sprites : — then first the day they knew : 

The pent volcanos to the passage flew ; 

In eddying smoke, fire flashing, thick they sped, 

And all around, unwonted darkness shed. 

Nerbudda smild : then sprung, with darting bounds 
Down the dark horrors of the deep profound. 600 

Then instant seem'd a thundering hiss to tear 
The liquid substance of the viewless air ) 
And mingling upward, slaves, tow'rs, vapours, fly, 
And, quick dissolving, mock th' astonish' d eye.— 
Thus when thou hast inflam'd, O Agni pure, 
The woodman's pile with many a sod secure, 
While watchful, day and night, with ceaseless care, 
His sooty toils the charring mass prepare 5 
Grateful he hastes to glittering Gdnga's side, 
And borrows largely from her copious tide : 610 

Then pours it o'er his task. — Hot hissing rise 
The vapours thick, and hold the clouded skies. 
Not clouded long : — the welkin's arid waste 
The reeky beverage quaffs, with greedy haste ; 



32 NERBUDDA; 

And bids thin space again assert her reign ; 

For see, the foe is gone that dar'd thy wild domain, 

Johilla now, with sense awakening slow 
From trance-like terror, tastes her draught of woe. 
Prostrate, in pain, she notes, with eye forlorn, 
The blood warm trickling from her visage torn. 620 
She rears her head, and, with a stranger's gaze, 
The desert naked all around surveys. 
In vain her anxious ranging eye inquires 
For Omerchandacs walls, and glittering spires; 
In vain for aid from those lov'd friends she prays, 
That shar'd her joys and cares in happier days : 
Those walls are vanish' d 5 — those her friends are gone : 
And sad, disfigur'd, houseless, and alone, 
She meets the rigours of a scorching sky ; 
And hears but Pavdns breezes doleful sigh, 630 

As o'er the barren heath they wing their way, 
To sweep those mountains that in wide array 
Present around their host of summits rude, 
The realms of silence, and of solitude. 
" Ah wretched state !— ah prospect horrid, drear," 
Johilla cry'd 3 " but is Nerbudda here ?" 



A HINDU TALE. 33 

She trembled at the name. — With eye askance, 
She stole a fearful, hasty, partial glance 
Tow'rd that dread spot where late she seem' d t' have seen 
The fierce departure of the angry queen. 640 

But vain her fears : no terrors now remain 3 
No yawning gulf deforms the mountain plain. 
One part alone unclos'd now meets the sight, 
Of size to suit Nerbuddas downward flight -, 
Whence — so the goddess will'd — a river flows 5 
And bubbling, boiling, fierce her anger shows. 
Seen too is anger in the current's force, 
For rolling eddying, swift it holds its course. 
From hated Sonas eastern vale it hies, 
To realms that glow beneath the western skies. 650 
Come to the mountain's verge, that high in air, 
Frowns o'er the vales, the heedless waters dare 
The dire descent. At first in smooth array, 
O'er the worn edge, they seize their rapid way; 
But soon the hostile rocks upswelling high 
In churlish forms the rushing mass annoy. 
Indignant and in scorn the waters wheel y 
And brawling sounds their rising wrath reveal 

D 



34 



NERBUDDA ; 



Now more oppos'd, they dash with furious rage 

Full o'er the foe,, and war incessant wage. 660 

Resistance scorning, surge leaps over surge, 

And darting hosts their swift precursors urge. 

The hurly swells ; — the waters war around 5 

And loud the rocks return the echoing sound. 

The shiver' d fluid foams 5 — wide flies the spray ; 

And showers prismatic dance on Suryas ray. 

Triumphing 'mid the scene, confusion howls 5 

And terror, bending o'er, astonied scowls. 

Nerbuddas flashing stream they wond'ring view, 

At perils fearless, still her course pursue ; 670 

And rushing still unconquer'd, hurrying flow, 

To lave Mundillas deep hid vales below. 

They trace her thence to Malwas long domain, 

And see her greeted by the shepherd swain. 

Sooth' d by his pipe, her rapid course she stays, 

And 'mong his herds meand'ring freely plays. 

Now sleeps her wrath 5 beneficent of soul, 

She bids her copious, welcome waters roll 

Through Gujerdta's realms j with liberal hand 

Diffusing plenty through the smiling land. 680 



A HINDU TALE. 35 

There hears she pleas' d, while slow her waters glide, 
The busy nations woo her favouring tide. 
Glad sees rich cities rise in bright array, 
To grace her union with thy waves, Cambaij. 
When now the horrors of Nerbuddas rage 
No more Johillas awe-struck soul engage, 
Oer the past scene her thoughts reverting rove, 
Fraught with the tenderest energies of love. 
Now fancy sees, the Deva fresh as morn ; 
Then dreadful downward hurl'd, and scattering borne. 
" Yet this for me my Sona did endure" — 691 

Then glows her breast with soft affection pure. 
" Could I but view once more his god-like grace • 
(< Yet ah ! the ruins of my mangled face." 
'Tis now she owns the reign of wild despair, 
And loud her laments rend the desert air. 
Exhausted now her grief, with many a sigh, 
She sinking yields to sad necessity ; 
Yet turns towards Sonets vales her hopeless gaze, 
And thitherward with feet unconscious strays ; 700 
The fatal cavern seeks, forlornly slow, 
Scene of her greatest joy — her greatest woe. 

D2 



36 



NERBUDDA ; 



Thither arriv'd, she kens with wond'ring view, 
The steps whence downward hurl'd, the Deva flew. 
Hush'd are the howlings of the furious storm, 
And horrors now no more the scene deform. 
Clear arch the heavens — save where the vapours play, 
High round the rocks, and mitigate the day. 
Adown those steeps, where late with shuddering awe, 
The bloody shower, Johilla scatter'd saw, 710 

The ribbon streamlets graceful, tumbling flow, 
And babbling feed the listening Tarn below. 
There on the bosom of a verdant glade, 
Encircled nearly by the tow' ring shade 
Of lonely heights, that round terrific nod, 
Convene the limbs, now liquid, of the god. 
There inky — solemn — silent they repose, 
The mournful emblems of the Devas woes. 

High from the cliff, the nymph awhile surveys, 
The dell deep darkling with astounded gaze. 720 

Till now reflection solemn painting shows, 
The frowning aspect of encircling woes 5 
Portrays her wretched, outcast, chearless, lone, 
Sona transform'd, and hope for ever gone. 



A HINDU TALE. 37 

Low sinks her soul. Now stands the wretch confest j 

Yet soft emotions heave her throbbing breast. 

She seeks the spot where late the Deva woo'd, 

There fond reclines, by tenderness subdu'd. 

But Sona is not — —Sona is not here — ~ 

Swift down her gory cheek tear chases tear. 730 

Behold she melts ! — her form eludes the eye ! 

Johilla flows all tear,— O prodigy !— 

Sunk in the moss, her grief awhile she hides, 

And o'er the rocks in secret streamlets glides ; 

Come to the brink — adown the stony steep 

She dripping flows, and flowing seems to weep. 

Now 'mong the clefted rocks she shuns the day, 

Now o'er them steals, and wins her shelving way ; 

This her sole wish — her dearest fond design, 

To blend her waters with, lov'd Sona, thine. 740 

Her fond design the sprites of Indra aid, 

And guide her trickling o'er the verdant glade 

To Sonas wat'ry arms : — there bid her know, 

The soothing balms of partnership in woe. 

Such fate was theirs — But now the cheering strains 
Of kindred sprites, call Sona to the plains. 



38 NERBUDDA; 

" Come, much-loy'd Deva, hither come/' they cry, 

" And quaff with us, the cup of rural joy. 

C€ Bask 'mid the glories of the blooming year -, 

" Inhale perfumes, and Nature's concerts hear. 750 

" Let not ambitious love thy heart control, 

" Or disappointment deaden all thy soul • 

" Love reigns but one, mid crores of heavenly powers : 

" Various is joy 5^-and many a joy is ours/' 

Glad Sona hears the voice of heavenly truth, 
And feels the light vivacities of youth. 
He quits the gloomy Tarn, and blithe and gay, 
Down toward the vales, brisk wins his various way. 
Though countless rocks in mingled ruin hurl'd, 
When changing Menus saw the shatter'd world, 760 
Thick down the dells in spiteful tumult close, 
And rudely Sonas free escape oppose ; 
Yet vain their efforts : he, in laughing scorn, 
Springs o'er their heaps, in foamy splendour borne -, 
Or winds, clear sparkling, through their loose array. 
And murmuring chides their idle poor delay. 
These barriers pass'd, his dancing wave he leads 
'Mong herds, disporting on the emerald meads : 



A HINDU TALE. 39 

And bids them lave,, when burns the noontide beam, 

And drink sweet coolness from his limpid stream. 770 

Meanwhile the fountain sprites, from urns well fill'd 

With limpid wealth, 'mong cloud-capp'd heights distiTd, 

Pour many a streamlet bright, and hurrying hie 

To grace his train, and swell his dignity — 

Them Sona welcomes : and, now full and bold, 

Their powerful course his rapid waters hold. 

They seek those scenes where kindred Devas hail 

Him, glad returning to the spacious vale. 

Joy triumphs now, the reign of grief is o'er, 

And Sona thinks of love and care no more : 780 

For see, his kindred friends with busy toil 

Scoop large his passage through the yielding soil ; 

His willing waters lead, with friendly hand, 

To give and gather pleasure through the land. 

His willing waters own the kind control, 

And golden-arm'd, meand'ring on, they roll, 

Deep piercing now the forest's palmy shade, 

Now bright disporting in the sunny glade; 

They now perfumes in ecstasy inhale, 

Such as Malaya flings upon the gale -, 790 



40 NERBUDDA; 

Or now reflect the dark Tamdla's* grove, 

While loud the Cocil chants his song of love. 

Onward they fare, through fields of ripening grain, 

Great Lacshmi greeting mid her rich domain, 

To those fair realms, where Patnas walls unfold 

Full peopled roofs, and towers high tipp'd with gold. 

There Sona seeks, the heav'n-born Gangas shores, 

And offers, pious, all his wat'ry stores. 

Nor can great Ganga such a gift disdain; 

She ranks him 'mong the worthiest of her train. 800 

<c Come genial god — blest son of Chandra s line, 

" I know," she cries, " thy will accords with mine : 

" Like mine, thy streams beneficent I know, 

" Like mine, full fraught with life and health they flow. 

" Downward from hence, in many a league display'd, 

" The arid plains demand our annual aid : 

" Give we that aid. 'Tis Ganga' s fond request; 

" And Sona then shall see the nations blest : 

' ( For o' er their realms our mingling streams shall pour, 

" And load with rich abundance laughing Gour." 810 

* A species of laurel. 



A HINDU TALE. 41 

Sona, approving, hears the words benign, 
And blends him instant with the stream divine- 
Now tow'rd their purpose, mazy swift they hie j 
And aided by the torrent-shedding sky, 
Assert, benevolent, their wond'rous reign 
Full o'er each district of Bengalee's plain. 
Like Ocean's self, their Hoods stretch wide around, 
Like Ocean's self, the far horizon bound. 
Raft-borne, the swain now traverses the field, 
That dusty late with panting steers he till'd 5 820 

Marks how his rice its moated head uprears ; 
Or floating home, his wave-won harvest bears -, 
His bank-built home : just o'er the flood it peers, 
The plashy refuge of his wading steers. 
Still onward rolls the flood — and bids its wave, 
The heads, high branching, of the forest lave. 
Now o'er those scenes the buoyant trav'ler sails, 
Where late in shade he woo'd the welcome gales. 
The Seapoy, while he stalks his nightly round, 
Hears 'gainst his fortress' side, the waters bound - } 830 
And sees, as Arun spreads his morning beam, 
The city painted on the circling stream P 



42 NERBUDDA j 

Her wakening sons of trade or pleasure sees, 
Ply thick their sails, and fly before the breeze. 

Meantime th' enrich' d, the saturated soil 
Prepares to recompense the ploughman's toil : 
Quaffs deep those liquid stores, that well shall feed 
Its nurslings bursting from the soften' d seed 5 
And rear the juicy stalk in green display, 
Luxuriant tossing in the blaze of day. 840 

The shrubs revive, that droop' d in scorching hours, 
And form anew their essence-breathing flowers. 
With life renew' d, the woods their veins distend, 
And bid their boughs with future fruitage bend. 
Thus, Gdnga, flow thy streams with blessings stor'd, 
Those heaven-born streams, thro' countless realms ador'd . 

But now the gods, their good accomplish'd all, 
From off the plains their duteous waters call; 
In many a current pour them on the main, 
And leave the earth, once more, to Suryas reign. 850 
Varunas sprites the rushing deluge hear, 
With wond'ring awe, and far-retiring fear. 
But Ocean old his heaven-born cliildren hails, 
And greets them welcome to those sea-deep vales j 



A HINDU TALE. 4S 

Where gleams his palace, whence with sceptred sway 

He rules the waves, that far and wide obey. 

There in his coral halls, high arching wide, 

Where pearly wealth rich gleams on every side j 

Where countless lamps in crystal order shine, 

And pour pure splendour o'er the scene divine ; S60 

Where Dewtahs bring their tributary flowers, 

And flitting scatter aromatic showers; 

Enthron'd on gems and gold, estrang'd from pain, 

Repose great Gdnga, and her river train $ 

On living bowls of Amrita regale, 

And rich perfumes with sense refin'd inhale. 

Hear tun'd by Cinntiras, the conchs resound, 

While Apsaras, light sportive, dance around ; 

Wakening the soul those heavenly joys to prove, 

That wait the blest in Swergas realms above. S7'0 

Such joys now Sona knows -his sorrows o'er, 

The Coma's dart, flower-tipp'd, he feels no more 

Mortals attend, and learn, in Wisdom's hour, 
To weigh the weight of dread Nerbuddd's power : 
For she is Durga, Siva's spouse severe, 
An awful name, that Earth, Sky, Heaven, revere. 



44 NERBUDDA; 

Her spear, not e'en Mahisha dare despise -, 
The grass is bitten* by her enemies : 
Then pilgrim visit Omerchandacs shrine • 
And bring thy offerings to the fount divine. 880 

There fast in honour of Nerbuddas name ; 
Take of her stream, and go and tell her fame. 
Thus shalt thou Durgas favour more secure, 
Than might a hundred Ass warned' has pure, 
Thus shall thy sinful soul be freed from stain ; 
Thy days long lengthen' d, pass exempt from pain. 
Fame, like th' extending Vdta, guard thy head, 
Thy offerings round thee, like the Durva spread. 
And when dread Yamas mandate from below, 
Shall bid at length thy pyre funereal glow, 890 

Thy soul convey'd by Cdlis high decree, 
Shall share advanc'd some nobler destiny 5 
Shall rest on earth, to wear the monarch's crown, 
Wreath' d strong with power, or gemm'd with bright 
renowil -, 

* This alludes to the Indian custom of biting a blade of 
grass as a token of submission, and of asking quarter. 

See inscription on the pillar called the Lat of Firoz Shah, 
near Delhi. As. Res. v. 7. N° 5. 



A HINDU TALE. 45 

Or, happier far, through high Nacshatras borne, 
Shall reach those realms where Heri shines like morn 5 
There float on seas of bliss that own no shore, 
Till Brahma sleep — and worlds exist no more. 898 



GLOSSARY. 



Agni — Is one of the eight guardian deities, so called from 
their supposed influence or care over the earth. He is the 
god of the element of fire. His sacti, or wife, is Swdha, 
or vital warmth ; the same, perhaps, as the Roman Vesta, 
This god is called Pav&ca, or the purifier ; obviously on 
account of the purifying power of fire. He is represented 
in the pagodas with four arms, indicative of power, his 
head encircled with flames, and sometimes seated on a 
ram ; alluding, perhaps, to the heats, which, in India, 
follow the entrance of the sun into that sign of the 
zodiac. 
Amrita — This is a liquor, and the same, to all intents and 
purposes, as the ambrosia of the Greeks ; for by drinking 
it the deities of Hindiisfhan become immortal ; and so 
effectual is its power, that when the Assura Rahii tasted 



48 GLOSSARY. 

it, though, on his being observed of Vishnu, that god cut 
off his head, ere he could swallow the liquor taken into 
his mouth 5 yet the head became immortal, and cele- 
brated for its oracular powers. Hence the fables of oracu- 
lar heads, of which that of the Oxford philosopher, Friar 
Bacon, has been familar to English legendists. The 
Amrita is sometimes mentioned as though it were milk 
or honey. Menu says it is the food taken at sacrifices. 
As the Amrita, according to the legend of the Courma 
Avatara, was produced by hard labour, and next after 
Sri, the goddess of Plenty, it seems that the idea of such 
a liquor arose from the salutary effects of the use of milk, 
as human sustenance, or of any other production ob- 
tained by human labour employed in cultivating the earth, 
and perfecting its produce. 

Apsaras — Beautiful female spirits, yet not wholly immaterial; 
employed chiefly as the attendants on the beatified spirits 
residing in the realms of India. — Vide lndra. 

Aswamedhas — The sacrifice of a horse, is called by Menu 
(chap. 11, v. 26) the king of sacrifices, to be able to 
remove all sin, and to secure to the devout votary, if duly 
performed, the high rank of a monarch in some future 
state of existence after death. At this sacrifice, the horse, 
according to some rites, is turned loose previous to immo- 



GLOSSARY. 49 

lation, and followed by the sacrificer, who is obliged to 
combat any person who may attempt to stop him* Ac- 
cording to the Cdlica Puruna, the head of the victim 
having been struck off, if possible, by a single stroke of 
the axe, is offered, with some of the blood, in a dish, 
before the image or shrine of the god to whom the sacri- 
fice is made. In the same manner, the sacrifice of other 
animals is performed, and even of men, who seem to have 
been anciently immolated, by the disciples of Brahma, in 
dreadful numbers, exceeding even the waste of life, occa- 
sioned by the sacrifices of the Scandinavians and Druids 
of ancient, or the inhabitants of Mexico, and of the South 
Sea islands of modern times. The slaughtering supersti- 
tion which dictated these sacrifices, seems to have be- 
come so excessive in the practice of these rites, as to have 
excited the utmost horror in the minds of the philosophers 
of India, and induced Buddha, who is perhaps nothing 
more than what his name implies, a personification of a 
school of philosophers, in order to deprecate the cruelty of 
this worship, to teach, as a barrier against it, his precepts 
rigidly enjoining abstinence from injury toward any sen- 
tient creature. It is well known that the precepts of Buddha 
have been productive of the most extensive effects on the 
Hindu habits; they have not, however, by any means 

E 



50 GLOSSARY. 

eradicated the practice of bloody sacrifices. Men, in- 
deed, are not now slain for that purpose, but young lambs 
and kids are killed in great numbers yearly in Bengal, 
and other parts of India; nay, many acts approaching 
near to human sacrifices are practised upon the human 
species by the Saivas and worshippers of Call. Origin- 
ally every meal was a kind of sacrifice, and conversely 
every sacrifice became a meal and a feast — oftentimes a 
licentious feast ; and hence most probably originated the 
horrid and unnatural practice of cannibalism. 

Betel — Is a compound for mastication, much and long used 
in India. It consists of a leaf of a pungent plant, the 
piper betle of Linnaeus, wrapped round a piece of the 
kernel of the nut of the areca palm, and covered with a 
thin crust or shell of lime. It is considered in India as 
salutary to the breath, and a great preserver of the teeth, 
whose beauty it improves, according to the fancy of the 
inhabitants of Eastern Asia, by rendering them nearly 
black. The apparatus for using it consists of a box of 
gold, or other costly materials, in which it is carried, and 
another to receive the saliva of the person using it. These 
are borne by one, sometimes two attendants, who form 
part of the retinue of persons of rank in India, whether 



GLOSSARY. 51 

male or female. This is sometimes superseded by the use 
of tobacco, which, however, seems to be comparatively 
modern, not being mentioned in any of the ancient San- 
scrit writings. 
Bhavdni, Most of the personages of the Hindu system of 
mythology are represented as married. To the male 
or husband is attributed the exciting power, or pri- 
mary cause of effects ; to the female, or wife, are assigned 
the excitable qualities, operating in consequence of the 
exciting cause to the immediate production of the effect. 
The female is called, in Sancrit, the sdcti, or effective 
power of the male. Bhavdni is a goddess, and the sdcti, 
or wife of Siva, a deity, the personified cause of destruc- 
tion and reproduction, or the changes which attend the 
course of nature. As the wife of Siva, considered in his 
reproductive character, this goddess is known by the 
name of Bhdvani, and is adored as Alma Mater, the great 
and powerful mother of all things, and even of the in- 
ferior orders of the gods ; and in this she certainly bears a 
great resemblance to the majestic, though wayward Here 
or Juno of Greece and Italy. As the wife of Siva, the 
destroyer, Bhavdni, is known by the names of Dtirga, 
that is, difficult of access, and Call, dark or inky. Durga, 
like the Roman Minerva and Greek Pallas, is represented 

E2 



52 GLOSSARY. 

in the pagodas of India clad in armour, and she particu- 
larly bears the formidable Trestil, or three-pointed spear, 
significative, as it should seem, of her influence over air, 
water, earth. A third eye is said to be placed in her fore- 
head, evidently the emblem of wisdom and discernment. 
This Dtirga is formidable $ but Call, considered as the wife 
of Siva in the character of Cdl, or Cdla, that is, Time, 
is terrific. She is represented of a black complexion, and 
wearing a necklace of human heads ; her teeth are large 
and grinning, like most of the Hindu deities of the Bhai- 
rava, or terrible family of Siva. She has commonly four 
hands. One holds a human head, another a heavy mace, 
a third a bell for worship, and the fourth the bloody 
bowl of sacrifice, and she stands on the breast of a pro- 
strate monarch, evidently signifying the victory of Time 
over kings and kingdoms. All the maleficent spirits 
called the s act is, whose displeasure many tribes of Hin- 
dus very diligently strive to avert (Buchanan's Journey), 
are believed to be incarnations or forms assumed by Cdli. 
As rivers, the great means of fertility in hot climates, 
usually take their rise among hills and mountains, Bha- 
vdni receives the title of Parvati, or mountain-born, and 
is called the daughter of Himachel or Himalaya, lord of 
the mountains lying on the north of Hindus fhdn, among 



GLOSSARY. 53 

which is the source of the Ganges. For the same reason, 
she is said to have assumed the form of the river Nerlud- 
da or Narmada, or rather to be the deity presiding over 
its waters. This is a striking instance, among many 
others, of the allegorical structure of the Hindu mytho= 
logy. 

Bhyroe. Whether this personage is the same as the mighty 
Mahesha, over whom Durga triumphed, is not very cer- 
tain. Captain Blunt saw at Ruitunpura, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Omerchandac, a building dedicated to the 
worship of this personage, and in it an enormous idol of 
blue granite, nine feet high. It was rubbed over with 
red paint, and adorned with flowers; circumstances which 
prove, that it was an object of adoration to the Hindis of 
the neighbourhood. Bhyroe must have been an evil spi- 
rit or Asstira, but this is no objection to the fact of his 
being worshipped, since evil beings of various orders 
are worshipped, especially in the Dec an, to avert their 
malignity, for the same reason as the ancient Egyptians 
worshipped Typhon, and various mischievous and noxious 
animals. — Jablonski, Panth. iEgypt. 

Brahma. Vide Maha-Deva. 

Brahma s Sleep. It is an article of belief with great part of 
the disciples of the Vtda, that all things, the universe it- 
self not excepted, exist only in idea \ or rather are com- 



54 GLOSSARY. 

posed of a system of ideas originating in Brakme, the Su- 
preme Being, but actually or immediately produced by 
ttrahmd, the efficient Creator, from whom, while he 
exerts his powers of combining ideas, things created 
proceed into being ; but that when he ceases to exert these 
his powers, things created die away, vanish from exist- 
ence, and return back to their first chief cause. These 
periods of the existence and non-existence of created be- 
ings, the philosophers of the Veda distinguish in their 
allegorical manner by the figure of the day and night, or 
the waking and sleeping of Brahma. Of these changes, 
which are believed to have been repeated a vast number of 
times, the institutes of Menu thus speak, (chap. I. v. 
52.) U When that power (Brahma) awakes ; for though 
slumber be not predicable of the sole eternal mind, infi- 
nitely wise and infinitely benevolent, yet it is predicated 
of Brahma figuratively, as a general property of life, then 
has the world its full expansion 3 but when he slumbers 
with tranquil spirit, then the whole system fades away.'' 
Whether the doctrine of -the successive organization of 
this earth, taught by this allegory, be, or be not, wholly 
improbable and absurd, is a point which may not be 
wholly unworthy the examination of the divine and the 
philosopher. 
Butter. In this, and the five following lines, most of the ar- 



GLOSSARY. 55 

tides used in the Hindu sacrifices, and the principal ob- 
servances of the Hindu worship, are enumerated; conse- 
quently, the passage cannot be well understood, without 
some account of the rites and ceremonies of the Brahmins. 
The religious duty of the Hindu consists of five principal 
rites, which the translator of the institutes of Menu dis- 
tinguishes by the name of the Jive great sacraments. These 
. are enumerated by that legislator, in the following verse : 
. u Teaching and studying Scripture, is the sacrament of 
the Veda ; offering cakes and water, the sacrifice of the 
manes ; an oblation to fire, the sacrament of the deities ; 
giving rice and other food to living creatures, the sacra- 
ment of spirits ; receiving guests with honour, the sacri- 
fice of men." (Menu, chap. 3. v. 70.) Of the last four 
of these five sacraments, it may be observed, that they 
comprise the ritual of pagan antiquity, and that they were 
generally practised at their sacrifices. The sacred cake and 
water were introduced at almost every sacrifice : fire to 
consume part, or the whole victim, was an essential re- 
quisite ; and the libation, or pouring of part of the wine 
or liquor used on the occasion, resembles, or at least cor- 
responds with, that act of the Hindu, when he leaves part 
of the offering a prey to birds and dogs, the representatives 
of the invisible spirits which, as he supposes, inhabit the 



56 



GLOSSARY. 



air. It may be farther added, that the hospitality of the 
ancient heathens of the western world, bears no very slight 
resemblance to the fifth of the sacraments; especially, as 
a sacrifice was an act of festivity, and generally served as an 
entertainment for the friends of the sacrificer. After these 
observations, it will be sufficiently obvious, that the short 
compass of a note will not serve as an explanation of these 
rites. This, therefore, must be relinquished, and a con- 
cise account of one of the five sacraments must suffice, in- 
stead of a full description, to convey a general idea of the 
ceremonies belonging to the others, which are very nu- 
merous, and minutely perplexing. When the oblation 
to fire is to be performed, in honour of all the gods*, the 
officiating priest first consecrates a level area of four cu- 
bits, by smearing it over with cow-dung; a substance, 
which, from its gelatinous nature, soon hardens in a hot 
climate, and forms a clean floor. Upon this area, he 
next draws several lines, in the directions prescribed by 
his ritual, and then sprinkles the area with water. This 
done, he throws away an ember from the sacred fire in a 

* All the gods, or the assembled gods termed in Sanscrit viswede- 
vas, are thus addressed and described in a mantra used on certain 
occasions. " Assembled gods, listen to my invocation ; ye who 
reside in the sky; ye who abide near us (on earth), or far off (in 
heaven), As. Res. Vol. vii, No. 8* 



GLOSSARY. 57 

covered vessel, in which it had been brought from some 
sacred fire, lighted by the friction of two pieces of a parti- 
cular kind of wood, and maintained by fuel of the same ; 
he then places the fire upon the consecrated spot. Around 
this vessel, thus placed upon the floor, he next disposes 
in due order, several blades of the sacred cusa grass (Poa 
Cynosuroides), and sitting down upon the ground, in the 
manner directed in the ritual, pronounces the names of 
the earth inaudibly. Should any inauspicious word have 
been spoken during this process, he now atones for it, by 
reciting a prescribed mantra, or sacred text. At this time 
also, if any special act of worship is intended, the mate- 
rials for sacrifice are prepared, and a suitable mantra is 
pronounced. More blades of cusa are now placed in or- 
der, round the vessel containing the fire ; and the priest 
having laid on wood, and poured upon it a ladleful of 
ghi or clarified butter, he sits down with his face towards 
the east, and meditates in silence on Brahma, lord of 
creatures. 

After some interval, the officiating priest proceeds to 
consecrate the vessels and butter to be used in the sacrifice, 
a process not a little intricate, and accompanied with the 
recital of various mantras, or sacred texts, after which, 
having burned in silence a small log of wood smeared with 



5S GLOSSARY* 

the ghz, he makes three oblations, by pouring each time 
a ladleful of butter upon the fire, saying, " Earth I be 
this oblation efficacious. Sky! be this oblation effica- 
cious. Heaven ! be this oblation efficacious." Such is the 
Homa, or oblation to fire ; sometimes performed alone, 
but always used as an introductory rite to other ceremo- 
nies, performed on a variety of occasions by the pious 
Hindu, — Colebroke, on the religious ceremonies of the 
Hindus. As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8. 

In the rules for the performance of this ceremony, no 
mention is made of the image of the god, to whose ho- 
nour this is performed ; a proof, that the Homa was an- 
terior in practice to the use of idols, or at least, that the 
Sastras do not consider them, as even requisite to reli- 
gious worship* Idols, however, have long formed an es- 
sential part of the furniture of every Hindu place of wor- 
ship, whether public or private ; and to prepare them for 
the purpose of receiving adoration, is one of the principal 
duties of the priests. For this purpose, previous to the 
hour of the puja, or public worship at the temples, the 
idol is bathed with milk or water, especially that of the 
Ganges, if it can be procured. It is then anointed with 
butter and odoriferous oils, clad in the most costly robes, 
and adorned with the richest jewels, the pagoda may 



GLOSSARY. 59 

happen to possess. Attendant priests keep off the files and 
insects from the honoured god with chouries or flappers, 
formed either of the white hair of the black Thibet cow, 
or of peacocks' feathers. The Homa is then performed, 
but the consecrated ceremonies are omitted at the temples, 
since both the area and utensils are there already conse- 
crated. The offerings of worshippers are then made. These 
consist of rice, butter, camphire, fruit, and flowers, of 
which, certain sorts are sacred, or appropriated to the 
deity. These the votaries either bring with them, or 
purchase of the priests at the temple. In the mean time, 
the Bayade'ras, or dancing girls, move in the sacred dance 
to the sounds of various instruments, among which, that 
of the conch, or of the bell, is generally heard. Some- 
times the whole assembly moves round the fire and the 
idol in procession, and the whole ceremony ends with a 
mantra pronounced by the priest as a benediction. — Ind. 
Ant. Vol. v. chap. 3. 

It may be said to be impossible to enumerate all the dif- 
ferent modes of worship prectised by the Hindus. It is 
not to be doubted, that they vary very much among dif- 
ferent sects ; and these, notwithstanding the bigotry of the 
Hindus, are very numerous. The greater part are termed 
sradtfhasj or obsequies, and these, according to the learned 



60 



GLOSSARY. 



Colebroke, may be classed under the twelve following 
heads, which may serve to convey an idea of the general 
objects of Hindu worship. 1. Daily obsequies, either 
with food, or water only, in honour of ancestors in gene- 
ral, but excluding the VisweMva. 2. Obsequies for a 
special cause, that is, in honour of a kinsman recently de- 
funct. 3. Voluntary obsequies, performed by way of su- 
pererogation for the greater benefit of the deceased. 4. 
Obsequies for increase of prosperity, performed upon any 
accession of wealth or prosperity, or upon other joyful 
occasions. 5. A sraddha to sanctify the food at an en- 
tertainment given to a company of reverend persons. 6. 
One performed, when stated numbers of priests are fed at 
the cost of a person, who needs purification from some 
defilement. 7. A sradtfha preparatory to the celebra- 
tion of any solemn rite. 8. Sr add 'has, in honour of 
deities. 9. Oblations of clarified butter, previous to the 
undertaking of a distant journey. 10. A sradd'ha to 
sanctify a meal of flesh meat, prepared simply for the sake 
of nourishment. — As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8. 

Processions, in which the images of the deities are con- 
veyed with great solemnity in circuit, to visit holy places, 
must be reckoned among acts of public worship, paid to 
the gods of India, The image used on these occasions, is 



GL0S3ARY. 61 

not always the principal idol of the pagoda, but one of 
secondary sanctity. It is sometimes conveyed on a ma- 
chine called a rafha, or waggon, often having six or eight 
wheels, and raised to a great height, by a pyramidal struc- 
ture of several stories, adorned with paintings and other 
representations, illustrative of the legendary history of the 
god. Those rat" has are drawn by the zealous votaries of 
the god, who consider this service as highly meritorious, 
and are often so animated by a frenzy of zeal, as to sacri- 
fice themselves, by laying down their heads so as to be 
mashed by the ponderous rolling wheels. On some oc- 
casions, the idols are carried on a stage or platform, rest- 
ing upon men's shoulders; at others, they are laid in a 
d6la or palanquin. These processions conduct the idol to 
visit various temples, tanks, and other sacred places, at 
certain seasons of the year $ and after an absence of some* 
times several days, the image is brought back to its former 
station. (Buchanan s Journey in the Decan, Vol. iii.) It 
is curious to remark, that no orders, or rules for the per- 
formance of these ceremonies, are to be met with in the 
VedaSy nor yet in the Institutes of Bfienu*; from which, it 
may be inferred, that they are of a more modern institu- 
tion than those works , though yet they are probably of 
great antiquity, since similar rites were practised in ho- 



62 GLOSSARY. 

nour of the goddess Cybele, by the ancient Greeks of 
Asia (vid. Mythological Accounts of Cybele— -Bell's 
Pantheon), and in the Lectisternia (vid. Livy, B. v. 
c. 13. Kennet, Ant. part 2. chap. 18, or Bell's Pan- 
theon) of the early ages of the republic of Rome. 

Cailasa. This is a mountain said to be the abode of the god 
Siva. It is on that account of great celebrity, and, of 
course, highly adorned and magnified by the Hindu le- 
gends. It is said, with the usual extravagance of those 
compositions, to consist of inestimable gems, and to ex- 
tend to the length of a hundred Yojdnas of eight or nine 
hundred miles each, and the breadth of fifty. It is gene- 
rally agreed, that it is situate on the north of Hindi'isfhdn, 
and the name is given by pilgrims, to a mountain or hill 
of moderate size among the Himalaya tract, and from it 
issues a stream, said to be the principal, or primary stream 
of the Ganges. 

Cdma is the Cupid or god of love, in the mythology of the 
Ptirdnas. He is known by various other names, as 
Smdra, Candarpa, Ananga, and others, all significative, 
like Cdma, of love and desire, or alluding to the powers 
ascribable to such a deity. This god is most evidently the 
creature of ingenious allegory ; for he is feigned to be the 



GLOS'SARYV 63 

son oZMdya, or the goddess of imagination (see Jones's 
Argument to Hymn to Camde) ; or, according to the Cash- 
mirian system, of Casydpa or Uranus, that is, of the hea- 
vens personified. By this, it is intimated, that the passion 
of love depends much upon the imagination, and that it is 
of heavenly origin, or owing to a higher motive than mere 
animal nature. In continuation of the allegory, it is 
taught, that the wife, that is, the sdcti, or efficient power 
of Cdma, is Rett, or affection, and his intimate friend is 
Vasanta, or the spring; the meaning of which is very ob- 
vious. The person of Cdma is that of a beautiful youth, 
bearing a bow, made either of the sugar-cane or flowers, 
its string composed of connected stinging bees. His 
weapons are five arrows, each pointed with the blossoms 
of five different plants of a heating quality, but probably 
in different degrees, and productive of different degrees of 
passion. Cdma is usually engaged in conversation with 
his mother and consort in gardens and temples, especially 
those near Agra, his favourite residence § but sometimes 
he traverses the air by moonlight, mounted upon his fa- 
vourite bird the lory, or parrot, attended by twelve 
nymphs, or dancing girls, of whom the foremost bears his 
banner, a red flag, with the figure of a fish in the middle. 
It is written in the Siva Piirdna, that he once had the 



C4 GLOSSARY. 

audacity to direct an arrow at the breast of the stern Sfoa ; 
who, although he yielded to the influence of the inflam- 
ing point, resented the attack with such fury, that he 
hurled at the unfortunate Cdma a flame of fire, by which 
he was instantly consumed to ashes, and thus reduced to 
a mental essence, signifying in plain terms, that his power 
was confined to the minds of mortals. The distress of Re- 
tt at this disaster was extreme, and the gods, moved with 
pity, interceded for the pardon of the offender ; which 
being obtained, Cdma was again restored to his bodily 
form, and appeared as before, in all the splendour of youth 
and beauty. — See Jones's Hymn to Durga. 
Chandra. This deity, who is known also by the name of So- 
ma, is a personification of the moon, which he is sup- 
posed to rule or animate. According to some of the Hin- 
du mythologies, he is considered as the son of Jtri, the son 
of Brahma. (Jones on Chronology of the Hindus.) In the 
Rigveda, the first of the three Vedas, it is written, " The 
moon is born of the sun." (As. Res. Vol. viii. p. 40o\) 
But, whatever be the pedigree of this deity, he is always, 
with some rare exceptions, represented as a male. This, 
though a deviation from the Grecian system, is agreeable 
to the mythologies of the northern nations of Europe ; who, 
inverting the Hindu system, consider Mane the moon as 



GLOSSARY. Qo 

a male, and Sunna, the sun, as female. (Edda, Fable 5.) 
But though these nations differ as to the sex of this per- 
sonage, they agree in the opinion, that his office is to 
preside over waters. The Rigveda writes, (s Rain is pro- 
duced from the Moon." (As. Res. Vol.viii. p. 406.) And 
a Hindu* commentator on this passage observes, that - c rain 
enters the lunar orb, which consists of water." (Ibid.) 
This opinion, concerning the attribute or power of the 
moon, is to be found even in the writings of our dramatic 
poet Shakspeare; who, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, 
calls the moon, " Governess of the floods." Menu (ch. 
3. ver. 76.) writes, " the smoke of oblations ascends to 
the sun, and from the sun it falls in rain; and from rain 
comes vegetable food ;" but in this, the intervention of 
the moon in producing rain, is only omitted, not denied: 
and consistently with the opinion, that the moon is the 
source of rain, he is the effective means of the growth of 
vegetables; and therefore Soma is called, in the Veda, 
" king of herbs and plants." (As. Res. Vol. v. p. 345.) 
This deity, who must always be a favourite in hot coun- 
tries, because the inhabitants experience the greatest plea- 
sure from their amusements taken in the evening by his 
light, is figured by the Hindus seated in a splendid car 
drawn by antelopes, and bearing in his bosom a sleeping 

F 



66 GLOSSARY. 

fawn, named Sasin. By the former, they allegorically in- 
timate the irregular motions of this heavenly body, which 
the rapid leaping of the antelope not unaptly resembles ; 
and it is fancied, that the dark parts on the lunar disk, 
bear the form of a sleeping fawn. Under allegories like 
these, the philosophers of Asia and antiquity have always 
been wont to veil their knowledge. These allegories, the 
vulgar have always been apt to understand in a literal 
sense ; and modern Europeans, supposing that they are 
only to be so understood, have always been too ready to 
term them absurd. 
Choultry. A choultry is a building erected for the accom- 
modation of travellers ; and is a place where they may 
lodge their goods, place their beds, eat under shelter, and 
give provender to their beasts of burden. All these arti- 
cles the traveller must either bring with him, or procure 
from the neighbourhood; for the choultry generally affords 
nothing more than bare walls. In some instances, how- 
ever, the charity of individuals has appointed persons, ge- 
nerally Brahmens, to take care of such travellers as are sick; 
and sometimes to let out to hire, at a low rate, beds or 
couches ; but these accommodations are by no means com- 
mon. The form of the choultry is usually square, but 
©pen towards the north, with sheds of piazzas on the in- 



GLOSSARY. 67 

ner side of the walls, and sometimes small rooms for the 
security of goods. In the middle of the court is an en- 
closed space, where the beast brought by the traveller, 
may be placed and fed. These buildings are generally 
erected by the bounty of individuals, and sometimes at the 
expense of the state. But in either case, their construc- 
tion is considered as an act of charity ; as indeed are all 
such as contribute to the accommodation of the stranger. 
This opinion is founded upon a conviction of the obliga- 
tion to the practice of hospitality ; an opinion as general in 
Asia, as it is ancient. Owing to this, Timul Naik Raja 
ofTanjora, who built a grand choultry near the pagoda of 
Madura for the accommodation of pilgrims and other 
religious visitants, has been almost deified ; and some de- 
gree of the same kind of praise is given to those persons 
who plant a Tope or grove, or open a well, near the way- 
side, for the convenience and refreshment of passengers. 
None of the British governors, or other residents in Hind- 
us fh&n, have hitherto employed any part of their wealth 
to the construction of choultries ; and are, on that account, 
thought by the natives to be selfish and uncharitable. It 
might be well, if measures were taken to convince the 
Hindus, by the construction of choultries and similar 
works, that the Christian religion teaches the necessity of 

F2 



6S GLOSSARY. 

charitable acts ; and that the British Christians are not 
unmindful of such precepts. The choultry is called a se- 
rai, or caravansarai, in Mahometan or western Asia; 
and is there constructed from the same charitable motives 
by the disciples of the Koran, as is the choultry by the 
votaries of Brahma. 
Chronology. The chronology of the Brahmins did, some 
years ago, very much engage the attention of Europeans ; 
chiefly because some French philosophers, of the school 
of Voltaire, had the boldness to affirm, that the chrono- 
logy of our sacred scriptures was completely invalidated 
by that of India, which afforded a systematic arrangement 
of periods, bearing all the marks of authenticity, and 
widely differing from that laid down in the books of the 
Hebrew lawgiver. The remarks of Sir William Jones, 
in his Essay upon the Chronology of the Hiudus, may be 
said to have shown, that the immense periods described 
in the Sdstras, could not be considered as the records of 
real time; and the subsequent discovery, that several other 
systems, very different from that examined by the judge 
of Bengal, both in the structure and length of their pe- 
riods, has clearly proved his opinion to be true; and 
shown, that the vast, and almost infinite, series of ages 
feigned by the Brahmen, and vaunted by the infidel Chris- 



GLOSSARY. 69 

tian, have owed their existence chiefly to a fanciful use 
of that arithmetical notation by figures, which the Hindis 
having invented, seem to delight almost wantonly to abuse. 
The proof of these positions, would lead into disquisi- 
tions much too long for the purposes here intended. The 
truth of these observations may, however, be rendered suf- 
ficiently evident, by an account of the manner in which 
the periods of the system at present received in Hindust'- 
kdn are constructed ; and, for such an account, the first 
chapter of the Institutes of Menu affords materials most 
ample and authentic. <( A year of mortals," writes the 
Hindu legislator (ch. 1. v. 67), "is a day and night of the 
gods." This fundamental position, is evidently nothing 
more than fancy, and such also must be the superstructure 
raised upon it. " Sages," continues he, " have given the 
name of Crita or Satya to a Yuga, or age, containing 
four thousand years of the gods ; the twilight preceding it, 
consists of as many hundreds, and the twilight following 
it of the same number. In the other three ages, with 
their twilights preceding and following, are thousands 
and hundreds, diminished by one." The divine years in 
the four human ages just described, being added together, 
their sum, or twelve thousand, is called an age of the gods. 
By reckoning a thousand divine ages or Maha-yugas, a 



70 GLOSSARY. 

day of Brahma may be found ; his night is also of an equal 
duration. The before-mentioned age of the gods, or 
twelve thousand of their years, being multiplied by severity- 
one, constitutes what is called a Menwantdra, or reign of 
a Menu. There are then four human ages, the Satya 
Yuga, Trita Yuga, Dudpard Yuga, and Call Yuga, in 
which the third is double, the second treble, and the first 
quadruple, of the last. These ages are distinguished by 
characteristics, exactly the same as those described by the 
Roman poet Ovid,in his Metamorphoses, a work formed on 
an idea most truly Hindu, and probably, like most of the 
Hindu poetry, allegorical. During the course of these 
ages through the several Menwdntaras, men, according to 
the Sastras, become degenerate ; are then reformed, and 
again degenerate ; but at the end of the Menwantdra, all 
living creatures are destroyed, the Menu excepted, who, 
with some other persons, escapes in a boat, and produces a 
new and pure race of men. This doctrine is evidently 
borrowed from, or is rather the heathen testimony to the 
truth of, the Mosaic history of the general deluge. Four- 
teen of these Menwantdras compose a day of Brahma-, at 
the expiration of which, the whole creation vanishes, and 
ceases to exist during Brahma s night. When that night 
is past, Brahma renews again the work of creation. 



GLOSSARY. 71 

These courses are continued in succession during the life 
of Brahma ; at whose death, even the gods expire, and are 
all absorbed into the essence of Brahme the Supreme. 
The number of years in each of these periods, will appear 
from calculations made according to the foregoing rules, 
to be as follows : 

The Satya Yuga will be determined by multiplying a 
year and day of the gods in the following manner : 
4000X360= 1440000 years of mortals. 
400X360= 144000 years the in morning twilight. 
400X360= 144000 years in the evening twilight. 
The sum of these =1728000 is the number of years in the 
Satya Yuga. 

The length of the second, or Treta Yilga, is thus ascer- 
tained: 

3000X360=1080000 years of mortals. 
300X360= 108000 the morning twilight. 
300X360= 108000 the evening twilight. 
The sum of these=1296000 is the number of years in the 
Treta Yuga. 
Again, 2000x360=720000 years of mortals. 
200X360= 72000 morning twilight. 
200x360= 7^000 evening twilight. 
The sum of these =864000 is the number of years in the 
Dudpdra Yuga, 



7% GLOSSAL. 

Again, 1 000X 360=360000 years of mortals. 
100X360= 36000 morning twilight. 
100X360= 36000 evening twilight. 
The sum of these =432000 is the number of years in the 
Call Yuga. 

The sum of the number of years in these four ages, 
4,320,000 years, is called a Maha Yuga, or an age of the 
gods 5 and the product of this multiplied by 10000, is 
4320,000,000, and expresses the number of years in a 
Cdlpa or day of Brahma. 

Of this system, it is obvious to observe, that although 
the Call Yuga seems to be the result of calculations made 
according to the foregoing rules, yet in reality, it is the 
basis of the whole ; a conjecture confirmed by the name 
of this Yuga, which signifies time, and intimates that it 
alone is real : and yet, even this is a fanciful period ; for 
it is itself deduced from combinations made of some of the 
most celebrated eras of antiquity. The number of years 
in the three other human ages, being the result of a re- 
peated addition of the Call Yuga ; and the other periods 
being formed from the annexing of cyphers to the sum 
of these, or multiplying this sum by numbers in a decuple 
proportion ; it may with great reason be imagined, that 
all these Yugas, or human ages, are measures of real time, 
artificially extended to their present enormous length.— If 



GLOSSARY. 73 

the Christian era be supposed to begin in the year of the 
world 4004, the Call Yuga will have begun in the year 
of the world 904. 

Cinndras. These are happy spirits or genii, chiefly employed 
as musicians in the realms of Indrd. Their name is de- 
rived from a word signifying a harp. The conch, one of 
their instruments, is a shell much used in the religious 
solemnities at the pagodas. In the Grecian mythology, 
it is given only to Triton, the attendant of Neptune,, the 
god of the sea. 

Classes. Vide Slaves. 

Cocil or Cocila. " The bird of sweetest song in India," says 
Sir W. Jones. — The translator of the Rdmayana, calls it 
the Indian cuckoo. — Cdlidasa, the author of the drama of 
Saconiald, speaks thus of this bird, act 5 : " The female 
cocilas, before they fly toward the firmament (migrate pro- 
bably), leave their eggs to be hatched, and their young to 
be fed by birds who have ho relation to them." Another 
poet writes, "The cocil bursts into song when he sees the 
blossoms glistening on the lovely Rasdla" Gitagovin- 
da. A good description of this bird, so constantly cele- 
brated by the Hindu poets, is much wanted. 

Creation. Vide Brahma s sleep. 

Criskna. It is a doctrine received by the Brahmins who be- 



74 GLOSSARY. 

lieve in the Pur anas, that the deity Vishnu frequently be- 
comes incarnate, or appears on earth in a bodily shape ; 
and that these incarnations or avatar as take place whenever 
the wickedness of mankind becomes so enormous, as to re- 
quire correction by the particular interference of heaven. 
The number of these incarnations is said to have been very 
great; for in fact it is believed, that some portion of the 
deity is incarnate in the person of every man who becomes 
eminent for his wisdom or his power. Of these avatdras, 
nine are, however, held to be pre-eminent to all others -, 
and a tenth of equal celebrity is yet to come, when Vish- 
nu will assume the form of a person named Cdlci, and 
punish that depravity, which, before the conclusion of the 
present or Call age, is to become universal. Another 
avatdra, not included in the number above mentioned, 
because not received generally by the Brahmens, although 
celebrated more than all the other by particular sects, is 
that in which Vishnu" is said to have been embodied in 
the person of Crishna, a prince born of the royal family 
of Mafhura, in the neighbourhood of Delhi-, and who 
rendered himself highly renowned by his extensive- con- 
quests, and also by the many wonderful or miraculous 
feats performed by him while he lived in concealment, 
and made a part of the family of the herdsman Nandi. Of 



GLOSSARY. 75 

these, many are recited from the Purdnas, by the British 
historian of ancient Hindus? hdn. One of these miracu- 
lous exploits consisted in raising above the waters of an ex- 
cessive inundation, the mountain Goverd'han, near Ma£- 
hura, for the security of the shepherds, his friends and as- 
sociates, and this he is said to have effected with his little 
finger alone. This, like all the rest of the exploits of 
Crishna, is probably an allegory, enigmatically recording 
the improvement of the country by the divine monarch, 
during the early part of his reign, and probably by drain- 
age. Crishna is celebrated by the Hindus, as a perfect 
model of youthful grace and beauty; and as such, hi s 
praises are sung by the poet Caliddsa, in his poem called 
the Gitagovinda, describing the loves of the youthful god 
and the beautiful Rddha, (see Jones's Works, Vol. i.) The 
person of Crishna is often exhibited among the images of 
the pagodas in the following form. Like most of the 
Hindu deities, he is naked to the waist, but his breast is 
adorned with a profusion of jewels, which, made into 
short or close, and long or loose necklaces, almost wholly 
cover the forepart of his body. Jewels also formed into 
pendants, adorn his ears, and a three-pointed crown with 
stars and rays encircles his head; but sometimes a high- 
pointed cap or mitre is given him. Rings are placed upon 



76 GLOSSARY. 

his arms, waist, and ancles, after the favourite fashion of 
the Hindus, and garlands of flowers hang loose around 
him. A loose mantle, or shawl of golden tissue, is cast 
over one shoulder ; and a long Jama, or skirt of yellow 
muslin, descends from his waist. Like most of the Hindu 
deities, he has four arms or rather hands (the arm from 
each shoulder dividing into two at the elbow), evidently an 
emblem of power. These hands bear the ring or quoit called 
the chacra, which seems to have been anciently used as a 
weapon in battle, and on this account, became one of the 
pentathla or five exercises of the Greeks ; the chdnca, or 
conch, used as a trumpet in the worship of the pagodas ; 
the gtda, or mace, used by monarchs to punish criminals, 
(Menu, chap. ii. v. iii.) probably the origin of the sceptre 
of European royalty ; and the cimela, or battle-axe, sig- 
nificative of military prowess. He is seated upon a low 
seat or sofa, with legs crossed, after the Hindu* fashion. It 
might not be very difficult, to form very plausible conjec- 
tures concerning the hidden meaning of all these orna- 
ments, to which the Hindus assign very great importance; 
and it may with confidence be affirmed, that were it pos- 
sible to penetrate into the concealed mysteries of the Brah- 
me'ns, it would be found, that the Crtshna of Hindrisf- 
hdn, like the Horus of Egypt, is a personification of the 



GLOSSARY. 77 

sun at that season, when, in countries nearly bordering 
upon the tropics, he diffuses, in the beginning of summer, 
life and vigour through every part of nature. 
Crown, The usual dress of a female Hindu, consists of a 
close-fitting vest or boddice, with short sleeves, and a kind 
of shawl, seven or eight yards long, and about one wide, 
wrapped several times round the waist, and the ends 
brought over the head and shoulders like a veil. To these 
are added a vast variety of ornaments, which render a Hin- 
M lady a very splendid being. These are almost all men- 
tioned in the following passage of the- Gitagovinda, 
(Jones's Works, Vol. i.) tc Place, O son of Yadu with 
fingers cooler than sandal- wood, place a circlet of musk 
on this breast, which resembles a vase of consecrated water, 
crowned with fresh leaves, and fixed near a vernal bower 
to propitiate the god of love. Place, my darling, the glossy 
powder (a preparation of antimony applied to the inside of 
the eye-lids) which would make the blackest bee envious, 
on this eye ; whose glances are keener than arrows darted 
by the husband of Rett. Fix, O accomplished youth, 
the two gems, which form part of love's chain, in these 
ears, whence the antelopes of thine eyes may run down- 
wards, and sport at pleasure. Place now a fresh circle of 
musk, black as the lunar spots, on the moon of my fore- 



78 GLOSSARY. 

head, and mix gay flowers on my tresses, with peacocks' 
feathers in graceful order, that they may wave like the 
banners of Cdma. Now replace, O tender-hearted, the 
loose ornaments of my vesture - } and refix the golden bells 
of my girdle on their destined station, which resemble 
those hills, where the god with five shafts, who destroyed 
Samldr, keeps his elephant ready for battle." 

** While she spake, the heart of Yddava triumphed, 
and, obeying her sportful behests, he placed musky spots 
on her bosom and forehead, dyed her temples with radiant 
hues, and embellished her eyes with additional blackness ; 
decked her hair and her neck with fresh garlands, and tied 
on her wrists the loosened bracelet, on her ancles the 
beamy rings, and round her waist, the zone of bells that 
sounded with ravishing melody." 

Respecting the ornaments enumerated in these passages, 
it may be proper to observe, that the Teica or Teic is an 
ornament of gold resting on the forehead above the nose, 
and that the e ' radiant hues" on the temples, are probably 
the marks of cast, drawn upon the forehead, without 
which, a Hindi! is always considered en deshabille. The 
practice of wearing garlands of flowers is still frequent in 
India, and probably gave rise to the fancy of representing 
flowers and plants upon their muslin cloths. If reference 



GLOSSARY. 79 

be made to the third chapter of the prophet Isaiah, it will be 
seen, that the Hebrew women are charged with gratifying 
their vanity with the use of all the ornaments mentioned 
by Jayadeva, except that no mention is made of staining 
the nails of the fingers and toes with the juice of Lacsha, 
a practice now very common in Asia, where the feet and 
hands are not covered with the dress. 
Culies, or Coolies, act as porters. 

Cusa, or Cusha. This is a grass named by Linnaeus, poa 
cynosuroides. Its leaves are very long, acutely jagged 
downwards, but smooth on the other parts. Their extremi- 
ties are sharp and tapering, so as to become proverbial 
among the Hindus, for acuteness of intellect. Its culm or 
stalk rises commonly to about the height of two feet, and is 
crowned by a panicle or head, often longer than the culm, 
and remarkable for its blood-red colour while in flower. 
It is a most beautiful grass, and perhaps owes its sacred 
character to this circumstance ; for the Hindus suppose 
every object to be animated by a spirit or divinity, and 
those which are most excellent or remarkable, to be ani- 
mated by spirits of the highest orders, or by gods. It 
seems more reasonable to refer the use of the Cusa in sa- 
crifices, to this circumstance, particularly on account of 
the blood-colour of its ftowers, than, with Sir William 



SO GLOSSARY. 

Jones, to any reference to Cush, the father of the Hindi! 
race ; though indeed this latter opinion would have been 
very probable, had it rested on any other ground than mere 
conjecture. Jones's Catalogue of Indian Plants, As. Res. 
Vol. iv. and Martyn's Millar's Diet. 
Cuvera. This personage is one of the eight guardian deities 
of Menu. He is the Hindu Plutus, but unlike the sordid, 
lame, and age-bent miser of the Greeks : he is a young, 
beautiful, and magnificent deity, residing in a splendid 
palace ; and when he travels, he passes through the skies 
in a vahdna, or self-moving car, richly ornamented and 
very elegant. Obedient to him, is a tribe of servile De- 
vatas, some good, and others evil, who are said to have 
yellow eyes, and to be well acquainted with all places, 
whether above or beneath the surface of the earth, that 
abound with precious metals and gems. This deity is 
called in the Hitopadesa, " the god adorned with the cres- 
cent ;" the emblem probably of increasing fortune ; and 
in the Institutes it is said, (chap. 7. v. 42.) " by virtues 
and humble behaviour, Prithu and Menu acquired sove- 
reignty, and Cuvera wealth inestimable:" words, seem- 
ingly implying, that he was some mortal distinguished for 
his great wealth, and on that account deified, and invest- 
ed with the character of the god of riches. 



GLOSSARY. 81 

Daily as. According to the mythology of the Brahmens, the 
number of superhuman beings is immense, and almost 
infinite. They are divided into a variety of orders or 
classes, which it is difficult to enumerate with certainty 
or precision. They are generally distinguished into good 
or evil beings, each known by various names ; marking 
very intricate and minute distinctions, about which, the 
Brahmens themselves are not, perhaps, fully agreed. Evil 
beings are called Daityas, Assuras, Rac'shasas, and some 
other names. Good beings are Adityas, (i. e. that may 
not be cut off,) Suras Yacshas, &c. It seems that these 
names are sometimes applied to human beings : thus 
Ravdna, the gigantic tyrant of Ceylon, a person of great 
celebrity in the Purdnas, or legends of the Brahmens, is 
said to have been a Racshasa ; probably, from a suppo- 
sition, that such evil spirits animated those personages. 
When evil spirits or good spirits are supposed to animate 
whole nations, the Brahmens seem to be in the habit of 
assigning to them good or bad names; in the choice of 
which, however, they are determined by their passions or 
inclinations. The Vedas, or oldest sacred books of the 
Brahmens, make little, or rather no mention of evil be- 
ings ; and the Institutes of Menu, a work of somewhat a 
later date, speak of them indirectly and slightly ; whereas 

G 



82 GLOSSARY. 

the Pur ana compositions, certainly of a much later date, 
are frequent in naming both. Hence, it seems probable, 
that the doctrine of evil spirits is comparatively of late in- 
vention. This observation applies with great force, to the 
Persian doctrine, of two principles operating in the works 
of the creation ; the one gentle and beneficent, the other 
cruel and malevolent. The Sdctis> or evil beings, wor- 
shipped according to Dr. Buchannan in the Dccan (Jour- 
ney to the Decan), are females, personifications of Bha- 
vdni or Durga, in her malevolent or destructive character. 

Decan. This w T ord, sometimes spelled Dacshin, means the 
south, and is the name of the peninsula, or southern dis- 
trict of India on this side the Ganges. According to Me- 
nu, it is not regarded as part of Aria Verta, or Hindus? - 
han Proper. No reason for this is given ; but, it may be 
conjectured, that the inhabitants of the Decan did not 
then acknowledge the authority, or perhaps receive the pre- 
cepts, of Brahmins. 

Destiny. The doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, 
that prominent tenet of Pythagoras and his disciples, and 
equally inculcated by the Druids of Britain, very probably 
owed its origin to the speculative fancies of the Brahmeni- 
cal philosophers of India. It certainly was brought from 
ihence by the Samian sage, who very probably learned 



t3X0SSARY. 83 

it from the Brahmens themselves. What that doctrine 
was, and still is, our countrymen have been enabled to 
inform us from authentic documents; the Institutes 
of Menu contain all the rules of the whole system. The 
Hindu legislature teaches, that the soul is an emanation 
from the supreme Brahme, who sends it into the world 
endued with qualities more or less good, as he sees most 
fit for the purpose of improvement and advancement, by 
trials in various states of existence. To .his end, it is 
made to occupy the bodies of men and animals, and even 
vegetables, according to its deserving. If in any particu- 
lar state it acquits itself well, it is on death, or separation 
from the body it had occupied in that state, appointed to 
inhabit the form of a being of more elevated rank : if it 
acquits itself ill, it is degraded, and assigned to a form of 
a lower order, and even compelled to abide in hell, a place 
of punishment, till by suffering in its " prison-house," it 
may have atoned for its errors, become purged of many of 
its impurities> and become fit to be admitted to a more 
favourable, or less degraded destiny, and even to be placed 
upon earth in a condition of happiness and honour. The 
highest order of beings, in the state of human existence, 
is that of the Brahmen ; and if such a one acquits himself 
well of his duties, or does not incur degradation, he is, at. 

Q2 



84 GLOSSARY. 

his next birth, a De'va or god; and such he continues for a 

limited period, if his virtues were of a middling degree $ 

but if they were highly eminent, and especially, if he were 

a pious Yogi, he obtains mucti, or ascends after death to 

the heaven of Vishnu or Brahme; becomes incorporated 

with the Supreme Being; exists for ever in happiness, and 

never more returns to the earth to experience the troubles 

of life, or to be subjected to the hazard of temptation and 

trials. All the particular rules of this system are detailed 

in the twelfth chapter of the Institutes of Menu. 
t 
Dewtahs. Vide Indras. 

Dress. Vide Crown. 

Diirga. Vide Bhavani. 

Diirva, is the agrostis linearis of Linnaeus, a grass, whose 
flowers in their perfect state are among the loveliest ob- 
jects of the vegetable world ; appearing, through a mag- 
nifying glass, like minute rubies and emeralds, in constant 
motion from the least breath of air. It is the sweetest and 
most nutritious pasture for cattle, and so readily propa- 
gated by its creeping roots, that lands sown with pieces of 
them become completely swarded in a single season. 
Hence it is used as an emblem of fecundity or increase. 
Its usefulness and beauty induced the Hindus in their 
earlier ages, to believe that it was the mansion of a bene- 



GLOSSARY. 85 

volent nymph; an opinion, which the author of the 
fine poem on the Restoration of Learning in the East, has 
ingeniously noticed as illustrative of the allegorical and 
philosophical mythology of the Hindus. 

Earthy Sky, Heaven, in Sanscrit, Bhur, Bhuva, Swar, are 
names peculiarly holy, and are repeated at most of the re- 
ligious solemnities, performed agreeably to the directions 
of the Vedas. The universe is supposed to be divided into 
these three divisions, which probably took their rise from 
the three divisions made by Moses, of the waters above 
the firmament, the firmament, and the waters below the 
firmament. See Genesis, chap. 1 . 

Funerals. Vide Pyre. 

Gandharvas. Vide Daityas. 

Ganesa. This deity is the son of Siva, one of the three per- 
sonages of the Hindu Triad ; and his wife, or sdcti, that 
is, his efficient power, is the goddess Parvati. His name 
- implies, that he is lord of spirits or Jinas, beings who 
have obtained an eminent, but not supreme degree of hap- 
piness, by the virtues of their former lives. Ganesa is 
esteemed the god of wisdom ; and as symbolical of this 



86 GLOSSARY. 

quality, he is represented with the head of the " half-rea- 
soning elephant," and attended by a rat, which the Hin- 
dus consider as a very sagacious animal. Sir William 
Jones is of opinion, that Ganesa is the Janus of the Ro- 
mans, partly from the resemblance between the two 
names, which, according to one mode of pronunciation, 
take nearly the same sound ; and partly, from the general 
worship generally paid to this deity by the Hindus, at the 
commencement of almost all their undertakings. (Jones 
on Deities of Greece, Italy, and India. As. Res. Vol.i.) 
There are, however, good reasons for believing, that Ja- 
nus was anciently god of an order superior to Ganesa, 
who holds a place in only the second rank of Hindu dei- 
ties. That the people may have an opportunity of inter- 
ceding for the favour, or rather of averting the enmity, of 
this deity ; representations of his person, usually images 
of a very corpulent shape, are placed by the sides of the 
highways, or in the fields, at the foot of some tree, ready 
to receive the adoration of passengers or labourers. Many 
of these images are very rude, both as to their form and 
materials. Sometimes the god is represented even by an 
upright stake of the Cacay, or Cassia Fistula, a plant pe- 
culiarly sacred to Ganesa. Round this stake, they level 
the ground, and purify it with cow-dung, and then burn 



GLOSSARY. 87 

incense and make offerings of rice, milk, and the like. 
(Buchanan's Journey into Mysore, &c. Vol. i. p. 52.) 
Gdnga. This word means in Sanscrit the river, and is given 
to many streams in India, although the celebrity of the 
great stream of Hindus? hdn seems to have almost exclu- 
sively appropriated the name to itself. Gdnga, or the 
Ganges, rises among the sacred Himalaya mountains, 
whence it is called heaven-born. It enters Hindusfhdn, 
at a fall from the mountains called the Cow's Mouth, on 
account of some Hindu fancies, at a place called Hurdwar, 
properly ' Herz-dudra, that is, the pass of Heri or Vishnu. 
From thence, to its efflux into the Bay of Bengal, the 
length of its course is calculated to be thirteen hundred 
miles. The breadth of the stream, or the channel (for 
the stream is commonly reduced to a fourth part of its 
greatest width in the dry season) is two or three miles 5 
but in the lower provinces, especially Bengdl, it is divided 
into numberless channels, which intersect that province 
in all directions ; so that it is difficult to say, which is 
properly the channel of the river, or to assign any aver- 
age to its breadth. Most of the particulars of the won- 
derful annual inundations of the Ganges, have been no- 
ticed in the preceding poem ; it may, however, be neces- 
sary here to observe, that the depth of the stream varies 



S8 GLOSSARY. 

in every season § that the waters begin to rise when the 
Himalayan snows begin to melt, and that the rise is 
greatest after the summer rains in June and July, when 
the height of the inundation, above the level in the dry 
season, exceeds, in most places, thirty feet. The lower 
provinces are then generally covered with a flood more 
than a hundred miles broad. In July and August, the in- 
undation begins to subside ; and the country is generally 
uncovered, and fit for the purposes of agriculture, in Octo- 
ber and November. In January and February it is dry 
and dusty ; in April and May it is burnt up with heat 
and drought. In most of its circumstances, the Ganges 
resembles the river Nile : but it may be said to surpass 
that river in magnitude and importance, as much as the 
Egyptian river surpasses most of the rivers in Europe. 

Gout. <( The kingdom of Gour, or Gowr, anciently included 
all the countries which now form the kingdom of Bengal, 
on this side the Brahma Putra, except MongirT (Mau- 
rice An. Hist. Hind. B. 3. ch. 6.) 

Goverdhen. A mountain in Mathura. It is the Parnassus, 
or poetic mount, of the Hindus, and is fabled to have been 
raised by a single effort of Crishnas little finger. (Bha- 
gavdta Purdna.) 

Guests. Vide Nuptial Bole. 



GLOSSARY. 89 

Heru Under this name, the divine Crishna, an avatdra 
or incarnation of Vishnu, is celebrated by the poet Jaya- 
deva in the Gitagovinda, a poem translated from the 
Sanscrit by Sir William Jones. (As. Res. Radha is 
described as the beautiful mistress of Hen, and their 
loves are painted with the liveliest colouring ; in some 
parts, says the translator* too warmly for an European 
eye ; and those parts, he has therefore, from motives of 
delicacy, forborne to commit to English. Notwithstand- 
ing this circumstance, the poem is esteemed by the Hin- 
dus as devoutly religious, and is consequently very far from 
exciting in them any loose ideas. The same may almost 
be said of the Song of Solomon in our sacred scriptures ; 
which, though abounding with images which the Jews 
considered as improper to be offered to very youthful read- 
ers, has yet been supposed, and seemingly with great 
propriety, to be prophetically allusive to the Christian 
church. The dissertation of the learned Jones, on the 
mystical poetry of the Hindu, shows, most clearly, that 
a kind of allegory, which conveys under a garb even li- 
centious, the most sacred meanings, is, and long has 
been, very familiar to the Asiatics. Agreeably to this 
system, the loves of Hen and Rddha may (since Crishna 
is confessedly a personification of the sun, or rather vital 



90 GLOSSARY. 

heat) be considered as signifying the effects produced by 
the principle of life acting upon productive nature; or, as 
other more profound and mystic Asiatic interpreters would 
perhaps explain it, the operation of the divine spirit upon 
the minds of devout persons. 
Himola, Himalaya, are the names by which that part of 
theTauric range of mountains, which forms the most im- 
passable barrier to the north of Hindusfkdn, is distin- 
guished in Sanscrit writings. These names are derived 
from the words Malaya, which signifies a hilly district, 
and haimas, meaning snowy, (Vide Jones's Preface to 
hymn to Pracriti) an epithet highly proper : for al- 
though they reach so low as thirty degrees of latitude, 
they are never wholly free from snow : a circumstance 
which renders the idea of snow familiar to the Hindus. 
The author of the Indian Recreations gives the following 
interesting account of them, as seen from Anopshir, a 
military station of the Company's troops in the province 
of Delhi. " After about ten days rainy weather, we have 
a return of the north-wind, with a clear sky. The moun- 
tains to the north-east appear unusually plain. Their dis- 
tance is called two hundred miles, and the nearer ridge are 
here entirely unseen. Their appearance is exactly that 
of snowy clouds towering to an immense height in the 



GLOSSARY. 91 

skies. It would seem, that Europeans had not sufficiently 
ascertained the height of the Thibetian mountains. They 
are situated in the centre of the largest continent in the 
world, and are probably the highest mountains upon its 
surface. Teneriffe, which I have seen, and which has 
the reputation of being the highest land in the old con- 
tinent, would not be at all visible at the distance of these 
mountains, which even here seem to soar above the 
clouds. They are eternally covered with snow ; and when 
the wind blows from their direction, the weather, to our 
feelings, is much colder than in Britain." (Ind. Rec. Vol. 
ii. sect. 43.) The Brahmenical mythology represents, 
with peculiar propriety, Bhavdni as the daughter of these 
mountains ; since the greater part of the waters, which 
render Nature effectively productive in Hindustlidn, issue 
from among them. 

Indras and Dewtahs. According to the doctrines taught by 
the Brahmins y every created object, whether animate 
or inanimate, or rather, as they make the distinction, 
every thing, whether it does or does not possess the power 
of motion, is governed, or rather owes its existence to the 
agency of a ruling or animating spirit. They consequently 
maintain, there are at least as many divine or super-hu- 
man personages, as there are distinct or individual objects ; 



92 GLOSSARY. 

and consequently, their number is almost infinite. An 
enumeration of the different kinds or orders of these be- 
ings, may be seen in the tenth Lecture of the Gita. Al- 
though the characters of these beings partake of all 
the shades of variety, from the excellence of the Great 
Supreme God, to the utmost malevolence and depravity of 
the demons of Nardca, or hell ; yet, they are generally 
distinguished into good and evil spirits, denominated Su- 
ras, or Assiiras ; Adityas, or Dityas ; Yaeshas and Rac- 
shas, or Racshasas, according to particular circumstances, 
which it is difficult, and perhaps not necessary in a ge- 
neral account of them, to learfl or recite. Among these 
spirits, or super-human beings, for they are not wholly 
immaterial, the Indras, as their name implies, are such 
as are under the government or command of Indra, and 
may be termed Genii of the air. The Dewtahs, or 
Devatahs, are of an order inferior to the Devas, pro- 
nounced also in the various dialects of India, Dela, Deb, 
and Deo, which is a specific name, says the translator of 
the Gita, comprising many of the higher orders of divine 
beings. The mythological system of the Brahmins is 
purely allegorical ; it is therefore with peculiar propriety, 
the Genii of the air and earth are said to owe their ori- 
gin to Bhavdni, the Goddess of Nature. 



GLOSSARY. 93 

Lacshmi, is the Goddess of Plenty, and is the s&cti or wife, 
that is, the efficient power, of the protector Vishnu. She 
is known also by the names of Pedma and Camdla, in al- 
lusion to the holy and increasing Lotos. Sri, or Sris, is 
another of her names, which naturally leads to the con- 
jecture, that she is the same as Ceres, the Latin Goddess 
of Plenty. Sri, or Lacshmi, is feigned to have sprung 
from the ocean, when churned by the Suras and Assiras 
with the mountain Manddra ; and this legend favours the 
opinion, that this operation is figurative of agricultural 
improvements, effected, most probably, by drainage; and 
highly conducive to the fertility of some country, perhaps 
Bengal. There seems great propriety, in making Lacshmi 
the wife of Vishnu ; since protection and security are na- 
turally conducive to fertility and abundance. 
Lotos. This plant is of the greatest celebrity among the Hin- 
du, and is honoured with a variety of names in sanserif 
writings, of which Pedma is most commonly used. It is 
that species of the nymphaea, or water-lily, distinguished 
by the epithet lotos ; though Sir William Jones says, the 
true lotos of Egypt is the nymphaea Nilifer, or the blue 
nymphaea, which, however, seems only a variety. (As. Res. 
Vol. i.) The roots of this plant creep along the bottom of 
lakes or rivers ; they are fleshy, and put forth stalks with 



94 GLOSSARY. 

long tubular petioles ascending to the top of the water, and 
increasing in length as the waters deepen, so as to allow 
the leaves to float upon the surface. The leaves are heart- 
shaped, targeted, slightly waved, from four to twelve 
inches long, of a greenish purple, lighter underneath, de- 
fending the flower which grows from the centre. Flowers 
large as the palm of the hand, of a tulip-like form ; petals 
fifteen, rather pointed and keeled; the outer seems greenish, 
the inner beautifully azure ; when full-blown, often of a 
rose-colour, sometimes white or yellow; delicately fra- 
grant, especially the rose-coloured variety : stamens forty, 
or many more ; germ of the pistil, inversely bell-shaped 
or hemispherical, with sixteen or seventeen cells, contain- 
ing seeds half an inch long, with a rind black and smooth ; 
when ripe, of a taste finer than almonds. These often ve- 
getate in the germ, and swelling, at length they burst out 
in a state considerably grown, and sink to the bottom 
of the water with roots already formed ; and thus their in- 
crease is very quick, and, when undisturbed, they soon 
cover the surface of the water. From the growth of the 
seed in the seed-vessel, which renders the plant a suitable 
emblem of that successive production of created beings 
taught in the Sdstras ; or from the legend, that Brahma, 
at the creation, was supported upon the primal waters by 



GLOSSARY. 95 

the leaf of lotos ; his plant is esteemed most sacred, and 
therefore highly celebrated in all religious writings ; and 
as the Hindd consider a slender pliability of form in the 
human person, the most beautiful, they constantly sig- 
nify whatever they esteem most elegant, by comparing it 
to, or even calling it by the name of, thepedma or lotos. 

Mahd Deva. This name means the great God, a title which 
the sect, worshipping Siva, gives to their favourite deity, 
and is almost peculiar to him, although refused to him by 
the other sects. Mahd Deva is known by a variety of 
names, of which Siva, meaning the Destroyer, is the most 
commonly used. This god is one of the personages of the 
celebrated Hindu Triad, so often considered as a proof, 
that the notion of a trinity has been received by the Brah- 
mens from the earliest antiquity. But this Triad of the 
Hindu, seems not to bear any proper analogy to the 
Christian Trinity, because the three personages of which 
it is composed, are all created deities ; and of an order 
confessedly inferior to the supreme Brahme, the first 
great cause of all things. This Triad is commonly called 
in Sanscrit, the Trimurti, that is, the three forms ; mean- 
ing the three stages through which all created beings pass. 
The name of the first of these personages is Brahme, the 



96 GLOSSARY. 

personification of the creative power ; the second is Vishnu, 
a personification of the preserving power; and the third 
is Siva, the personification of the destructive power. The 
Brahmens believe the doctrine of the transmigration of the 
soul, and consequently death is considered only as the 
passage to a new state of existence; hence, Siva the De- 
stroyer is considered only as the reproducer, or the author 
of new life : he bears, therefore, a double, and in some 
respects, an opposite character; and agreeable to those 
characters, he is sometimes represented as odious and ter- 
rible ; at others, as delightfully splendid and magnificent. 
Siva is the husband of Bhavdni, or the exciting cause of 
operating Nature ; a quality typified by various symbols, 
among which the bull, the means of the productiveness 
of the cow, is one ; and the Linga, " a male emblem of 
; production too gross," to use the words of Dr. Robertson, 
" to be described," is another, and by far the most cele- 
brated, being placed in the principal shrine of most of the 
temples of Siva, and worn as the insigne of the god, by 
the greater part of his votaries. This practice, which is 
by no means confined to the male sex, naturally appears 
to Europeans abominably indecent, and likely to be pro- 
ductive of the grossest immoralities. Habit, however, in 
a great degree, prevents the Hindu from entertaining such 



GLOSSARY. 97 

opinions, or from experiencing any such effect; for the 
Hindus are not generally of debauched habits, at least 
they may shame too many of their European masters, 
who lead a life of licentiousness in despite of Christian 
decencies and Christian principles. 

Malaya. This word is used to designate any hilly tract, but 
is more particularly applied to the western shores of the 
Decdn, called Malabar, that is, the hilly district. The 
fragrance communicated to the air, by the many aromatic 
plants of this country, is thus mentioned by the poet 
Jeyadeva. " The gale that has wantoned round the 
beautiful clove plants, breathes now from the hills of Ma- 
Idya," and again, " A sweet breeze from the hills of Ma- 
laya comes wafting on his plumes the young god of De- 
sire." Gitagovinda. 

Mahisha is a gigantic Assura, or evil spirit, having the head 
and horns of an ox. He is said to have fought with Durga, 
and to have been defeated by her. (As. Res. Vol. viii. No. 
3.) His name is Sanscrit, and means Great Nature. It is 
ingeniously mentioned in the tract just mentioned, that as 
Horus was represented in the Egyptian temples attacking 
and slaying the Hippopotamus or river horse, as an em- 
blem of the power of the sun, in drying the waters of the 
Nile, so the contest of Dilrga with this Assura means 

H 



98 GLOSSARY. 

the powers of Nature surviving the inundations of the 
Ganges ; a conjecture confirmed by a variety of circum- 
stances connected with this legend. 
Mandara. This is one of the mountains esteemed sacred by 
the Hindus, and, like their other sacred mountains, is one 
of the Himalaya ridge on the north of Hindus? hdn. It de- 
rives its celebrity, from having been used, according to the 
Hindu legends, by the As suras and Suras, and good or 
evil genii, or spirits, to churn the ocean for obtaining the 
. Amrita, or liquor of immortality. The particulars of this 
transaction, are given in an episode to the Hindu epic 
poem called the Mahabardt, or great Hindii w r ar ; and a 
translation of it may be seen in a note to the Gita by the 
learned Wilkins. The whole of this description, will 
probably appear to the European reader, to be a ridicu- 
lous farrago of fables : a more intimate acquaintance with 
the writings of the Sastras will suggest the idea, that the 
whole is an allegorical account of some mighty undertak- 
ing, carried on by the united efforts of several nations 
figured under the names of Surds or Asstiras, aided by 
hidra or the air, to drain and cultivate the countries in 
which they lived ; and that the wholesome produce of im- 
proved pasturage and agriculture, is the real Amrita in- 
tended by the allegory. The name is a compound of two 



glossary; 99 

Sanscrit words, man, water, and dara, to pierce ; and 
indicates the manner of its use, which was the same as 
that still practised in the Hindi! dairies to churn their 
milk in making ghi, or butter. This is by turning round 
the dasher with a rope or thong, while its stem is kept in 
an upright position. Vide Buchanan's Journey. 
Mantra, The Vcdas consist of sentences which are distin- 
guished by the names of Mantra or Brahmdna. The lat- 
ter are moral precepts, the former prayers and invocations 
of the gods. Particular powers, or efficacies, are attributed 
to Mantras when duly recited, similar to those some- 
times ascribed to magical incantations ; on this account, 
the manner of reciting a mantra is esteemed of much more 
importance than an acquaintance with its meaning. Si- 
milar opinions were formerly entertained in Europe, and 
^ire said, by the author of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
to have been known to the wizard Michael Scott. They 
are alluded to in the following lines : 

—Warrior, I could say to thee 

The words that cleft Eildon hills in three, 

And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone. 

The words may not again be said ; 

They would rend this abbayes massy nave, 

And pile it in heaps above his grave. 

Canto 2. § 13,14, 
H2 



100 GLOSSARY. 

These fancies seem to have been founded on the belief, 
that the deity becomes peculiarly present when addressed 
in prayer j and it seems to be a natural consequence of the 
HinM doctrine, that the deities become absolutely pre- 
sent when duly invited by rites and mantras ; and that 
some of these mantras are able to compel them, when in- 
voked, to enter into, and abide in a statue, or a rude stone, 
or even a vessel of water duly prepared ; and this is evi- 
dently the principle on which the efficacy of holy water 
must be supposed to depend. 

Marriages. Vide Nuptial Bole. 

Maya. This personage may properly be considered as a per- 
sonification of the powers of imagination ; or since, ac- 
cording to some Hindu philosophers, whatever exists, ex- 
ists not in reality, but only in a system of perceptions, 
wholly dependent upon imagination ; and, consequently, 
all things may be said to be nothing but delusion, or ra- 
ther illusion. This doctrine is propounded as follows 
in the Bhagavdta Purdna. " Except the First cause 
(Brahme)y whatever may appear, or may not appear in 
the mind, know that it is the mind's Maya, or delusion, 
as light and darkness." Sir William Jones philosophi- 
cally explains tbe word Maya, as " intending a system of 
perceptions of either primary or secondary qualities, which 



GLOSSARY. 101 

the deity is believed, by some philosophers and pious men, 
to raise by his omnipresent spirit in the minds of his crea- 
tures ; which perceptions, however, had not any existence 
independent of mind." This doctrine is beautifully illus- 
trated by the following passage in the prize poem of 
Charles Grant, Esq. on the subject of the Restoration of 
Learning in the East; a passage, which the author 
of this work quotes with pleasure, though he is sensible 
the comparison must be unfavourable to his own poetry. 

Ask the poor Hindu if material things 
Exist ? He answers, Their existence springs 
From mind within that prompts, protects, provides, 
And moulds their beauties or their terrors guides — ■ 
Blooms the red flowret ? Durva blushes there. 
Flash lightnings fierce ? Dread hidra fills the air. 
The morning wakes, or high the white wave swells ; 
That Surya brightens, Gdnga this impelis. 
Thus in each part of this material scene, 
He owns that matter rests on mind unseen : 
And in each object views some god portray'd ; 
This all in all, and that but empty shade. 
The mind extinct, the shadows too must flee, 
And all this visible forget to be. 

Since sexual love confessedly derives much of its power 



102 



GLOSSARY. 



from the imagination, the Hindu" mythology very ingeni- 
ously speaks of Maya as the mother of Cdma, or the pa- 
rent of love. In this respect, we may perhaps, with the 
Pur ana, consider Maya as Delusion. 
Meru, According to the Ptirdnas, Meru is a mountain ris- 
ing in the midst of JambMivipa, or the habitable world, 
to the height of 84,000 yojdnas, each yojdna being about 
nine miles. Different sastras vary in their accounts of its 
form - } some describing it as a pyramid or cone inverted, 
others, as standing on its base. This latter opinion is 
adopted by Sir William Jones, who, in his treatise on 
the Hindu zodiac, gives a representation of Merit ac- 
cording to this latter form. But whichever be the form 
adopted, it is agreed that this mountain is the abode of 
beatified spirits, and that the metropolis Amravdti, a city 
on its summit, is built of gold and gems. In, or around 
it, are the gardens of Nandana ; where good and virtuous 
persons abide after death, under the government of Indra, 
and in the enjoyment of the most exquisite pleasures, for 
a period proportioned to the degree of virtue attained by 
each, in the preceding state of his existence. When this 
period expires, it is taught, that each person returns again 
to this earth, and undergoes new trials of his virtue and 
Obedience. The pleasures of Amravdta, are chiefly of the 



GLOSSARY. 103 

sensual kind, consisting of continued festivities> to which 
the beautiful nymphs called Apsaras, (the Houris of Ma- 
homet) and the skilful musicians and singers called Cin- 
tiaras and Gandharvas, principally contribute. The le- 
gendary allegories concerning this mountain further relate, 
that a river issuing from the head of Vishnu, or the feet of 
Siva, for such are the different allegories of different sects, 
flows into a lake on the top of Merit, from which issue 
four rivers, each taking a course directed toward the se- 
veral quarters of the habitable world. In this respect, 
Merit bears some resemblance to what the Hebrew histo- 
rian writes concerning Paradise, or the Garden of Eden . 
The frequent pilgrimages of Hindu devotees into the 
mountainous districts on the north of Hinddsfhdn, and 
some other circumstances, are favourable to the conjec- 
ture, that, by Merit is to be understood the Paradise of our 
Scriptures ; and that the mountains o£Bochdra may be said 
to afford stronger evidences of having been the real Eden, 
than any other spot in the world. This idea may possi- 
bly receive additional support, from a farther investigation 
of Sanscrit literature. The Merit signifies, in that lan- 
guage, axis or pivot ; whence some Europeans have sup- 
posed, that Merit is the north pole of the earth; an opi- 
nion which the French philosophist-astronomer Bailli 
w r ould find favourable to his position, that the northern 



104 GLOSSARY. 

regions were once the abodes of fertility and delight. 
Others again maintain, that Meni means the zenith. It 
seems reasonable to imagine, that each opinion finds its 
advocates among the various sects of philosophers and re- 
ligionists, with which India abounds. 

Muni. The author of the Gita writes, (Lect. 2,) " A man 
is said to be confirmed in wisdom, when he forsaketh 
every desire which entereth into his heart, and of himself 
is happy and contented in himself. His mind is undis- 
turbed in adversity ; he is happy and contented in pro- 
sperity, and he is a stranger to anxiety, fear, and anger. 
Such a wise man is called a Muni'' Hence, this charac- 
ter resembles that of those men, whom the Greeks dis- 
tinguished by the name of philosophers. The Muni is 
like the philosopher whom the poet Horace describes as 
" Totus in se teres atque rotundus," (Horace, Lib. 2. 
Sat. 7) (< one wholly smooth and round within himself." 

Munj. The Maunji, or Brahme'nical girdle, is composed of 
the Munj a, or culm of the Sara, or jungle plant, the 
saccharaum spontaneum of Linnaeus, formed into a triple 
cord. This is of such importance in the dress of a reli- 
gious person, that very particular directions, respecting the 
materials of which it ought to be composed, are given in 
the Sastras (2 Menu, ch. 2. v. 42. 43.). 

Music, Vide Raginis. 



GLOSSARY. 105 

Nacshdtras. The interpretation of this word means, accord- 
ing to the learned translator of the Git a, t( the dispellers 
of darkness:" it is given to the eighteen constellations 
through which the moon passes in its monthly course, and 
is also used to signify constellations in general, or any of 
the heavenly bodies, and especially the moon. (Gita, 
Lect. 10, and Note 6l.) As these bodies were supposed 
to be informed or animated by spirits of a very eminent 
order, they became the objects of worship ; not primarily, 
or as being stars or heavenly bodies, but as being so ani- 
mated. The antiquity of the worship oftheNacshdstras, is 
certainly very great, but they most assuredly were not the 
first objects of adoration among idolaters. Fire was proba- 
bly the first, next light, as the supposed effect of fire, and 
then the sun and stars, as the supposed abodes of light. It 
should seem to have been imagined, that the same spirit 
might possibly inform or animate a number of contigu- 
ous stars, which, being parcelled out according to the 
fancy of idolatrous astronomers, produced the constella- 
tions of the Grecian sphere; those strange and whimsical 
divisions of the heavens, to which Christian astronomers 
still adhere, certainly rather from habit than necessity. 

Ndga is the name commonly given in Sanscrit to the hooded 
serpent, or cobra di capella, the most poisonous of all the 



106 GLOSSARY. 

serpent tribe in Asia. The name serves, however, to dis- 
tinguish serpents having only one head, while those with 
many heads are known by the name of Urdga. As none 
of these urdgas are known in nature, it may be presumed 
that they are the creatures of allegory, which, indeed, 
has greatly extended the scale of created beings in India. 
Only one of these Urdgas has been familiar to the west- 
ern world, the celebrated Hydra, slain after a difficult 
conflict, by the mighty Hercules. It is a curious fact, 
that in the south of England, or at least in the county of 
Sussex, a snake is called a Nag-worm. 

Nagrira, is the large or double-drum used in India. 

Nuptial Role, It has been already observed, that marriage 
is a sacrament with the Hindus, as with the Roman Ca- 
tholics ; and the rules relating to it, show, that they con- 
sider it as of the first importance. According to the pre- 
sent practice in India, the first overtures for marriage are 
usually made by the friends of the female, which seems 
to be the consequence of the law of Menu (chap. 9. v. 88.) 
where it is declared, that unless the father find a suitable 
match for his daughter within three years after she may 
have attained to the proper age, which is commonly at eight 
years, he loses the power of disposing of her in marriage, 
and with that power, the right, of claiming the sum 



GLOSSARY. 107 

usually given by the bridegroom, as a price for his bride. 
It is very necessary, that this duty be enforced by some 
penalties, or it might be often neglected •> since the se- 
lection of a proper husband for a daughter, is attended with 
a variety of difficulties arising from observances respect- 
ing class, affinity, consanguinity, personal qualities, and 
moral and religious character. These and other similar 
matters having been duly considered, it next becomes a 
point of no little interest, to select a lucky day for the 
commencement of the nuptial ceremonies ; and for this 
purpose, the astrologer is anxiously consulted, and he has 
recourse to all the subtilties of his art, to ascertain a pro- 
per day for the solemnities. On that day, the bridegroom 
proceeds to the house of the brides father, who prepares 
for his reception with all the rites belonging to the sacra- 
ment of men, or of religious hospitality. A sacrifice is 
first offered, a seat for the guest prepared, and a cow is 
tied in or near the apartments where he is to be received ; 
a circumstance seemingly intimating, that anciently the 
cow was cut up and eaten, perhaps alive, after the manner 
of some feasts still practised in Abyssinia. This ceremony 
thus finished, the rites properly nuptial next commence. 
The intended bride having been bathed, and undergone 
some preparatory ceremonies, with prayers or holy texts 



108 GLOSSARY. 

repeated in private, is introduced ; and being led to the 
bridegroom and her right hand placed in his, they are 
bo and together with some blades of the sacred en's a grass, 
amid the sound of cheerful music. They then walk forth 
thus united, evidently for the purpose of publicly declar- 
ing their union, and then retire into an inner room of the 
house. Here an altar is prepared with the usual solem- 
nities ; various oblations are offered, and various ceremo- 
nies are performed, indicative either of the duties of the 
married state, or figuratively expressive of good wishes for 
the happiness and prosperity of the married couple. 
Among other customs, the bride is clad in a new gar- 
ment, belonging to the bridegroom, and the skirts of 
their mantles are tied together in a knot ; and this, with 
the ligature of cusa grass above mentioned, are actual re- 
presentations of the bands of wedlock, and the marriage 
knot, which among ourselves are known only as figura- 
tive expressions. These expressions may, however, very 
reasonably be considered as the remains of ancient usages 
(similar to those described by the Hindu Sastras), prac- 
tised and observed by our ancestors. After this, the bride 
steps seven steps into seven concentric circles, a holy text 
being recited at every step, and the marriage is then com- 
pleted and irrevocable. When these rites are finished, 



GLOSSARY, i0£ 

the company depart, and the new-married pair are left in 
the company of their nearer relations, who continue the 
performance of ceremonies similar in form and import to 
those performed amid the more public assembly of neigh- 
bours and friends, These continue for three days, during 
which time, the married pair continue in the house of the 
bride's father, and live abstemiously and chastely ; at the 
conclusion of the fourth day, the bride is conveyed to the 
house of the bridegroom, usually attended by a long train 
of friends, and with as much splendour and show, as the 
circumstances of the parties will allow. On arriving at 
his house, some of the former ceremonies are repeated, 
with others significative of attachment and fidelity. An 
infant is placed in the arms of the wife, to remind her of 
the duties of a mother. With this, the whole of the ce- 
remony terminates, which, it may be said, consists of 
rites significant of the general purposes of wedlock, and 
conducted throughout, as far, at least, as the rules of the 
Sasfras are observed, with the greatest decency and de~ 



O M. Menu writes (chap. 2. 76.), " Brahmd milked out, as 
it were, from the three VSdas, the letter A, the letter U, 
and the letter M j which form by coalition the tri-literal 



110 GLOSSARY. 

monosyllable" Aum, pronounced as though it were spelled 
O M . This monosyllable, Menti declares, in a subse- 
quent verse, (v. 84.) to be " the symbol of God, the Lord 
of created beings." Each of the three compound letters 
has its mysterious signification. The first denotes Brahma, 
the second Vishnu, and the third Siva. This syllable is 
never pronounced by the Hindus, except inaudibly, or as 
it were inwardly, and never without much solemn pre- 
paration. " If," says Menti Cch. 2, v. 75.) (S he have 
sitten on culms of ctxsa, with their points towards the 
east, and be purified by rubbing that holy grass in both 
his hands, and be further prepared by three suppressions 
of breath, he may then fitly pronounce O M." Whether 
this Indian monosyllable be the same as the Egyptian 
O N, will be inquired perhaps, rather from the near re- 
semblance, than from any positive authority. It is, how- 
ever, rendered in some degree probable, by the circum- 
stance that O N was significative of the sun, and the sun 
originally signified the author of heat and light and life. 

Para Brahma. Vide Brahma. 

Patna, is a city of the province of Allahabad, situate on the 
Ganges. Anciently the Sone joined the river Ganges at 
this place, but now at Moneah, a town eighteen miles 



GLOSSARY. Ill 

higher up that river. This change is owing to the action 
of the waters on the very light soil, of which the greater 
part of the tracts of country contiguous to the Ganges con- 
sist : for these countries, and especially Behdr and Bengd- 
la, being extremely flat, and the stream at all times, par- 
ticularly during the inundation, very rapid, changes in 
the channel are continually taking place ; and these con- 
tinued changes are so great, that the geographer Rennel, 
in his Memoir on the Ganges, conjectures, with every 
appearance of probability and truth, that the whole of 
the soil of Bengdla has been, at different times, removed 
by the action of the waters. 

Pavdna is one of the eight guardian deities : he presides Over 
the winds, and as such, is deemed the chief minister of 
Indra, the god of the air. He is feigned, in an ingenious 
allegory, to ride furiously along the heavens on the back of 
an antelope, brandishing a scymeter gleaming like light- 
ning. His inferior genii, or ministers, are called Mt~ 
rtits. 

Peons. These are a sort of footmen attending persons of 
rank in India. The word means a messenger. 

Pindara and Sohdgepur, are mountainous districts in the 
province of Allahabad. 

Pippal. The jicus religiosa. Vide Vdta, The rules of the< 



112 GLOSSARY. 

sdstra are very particular respecting the staff, from a per- 
suasion, that a proper staff has great efficacy in controlling 
and driving away evil spirits. (Vide Menu, ch. 2. v. 45, &c.) 
To the vast power the staff is supposed to have in driving 
away evil spirits, according to the old European system of 
Demonology, each conjuror or magician holds a thin 
staff or wand when he exercises his art ; evidently for the 
same reason. 
Pyre. The Hindu funerals are attended and followed by so- 
lemnities, esteemed the most important of any in their ritu- 
al ; and so essential to the happiness of the departed person, 
that it is considered the greatest misfortune to be destitute 
of a son or adopted heir, who may duly perform these im- 
portant rites. — When the sick person is about to die, he 
is carried from his house to the side of some tank, or 
river, if possible the Ganges ; he is sprinkled with water, 
and receives a kind of extreme unction with the mud. 
When dead, the corpse is washed, anointed with oils and 
perfumes, and after some pieces of gold have been put in 
his eyes, nostrils, and ears, and some other articles of va- 
lue in his mouth, probably for the same purposes as the 
Romans used to put a piece of money in the mouth of the 
dead person to pay the ferrying Charon, it is covered with 
a cloth, and is carried directly by the nearest relations to 



GLOSSARY. 113 

some cemetery. On arriving there, a spot is prepared by 
drawing lines as for a sacrifice, a circumstance which 
seems to intimate, that the funereal rite is a kind of sa- 
crifice, and the body is laid on a pile and reduced to ashes. 
After this, and when the fire is nearly burnt out, the 
friends of the deceased, having performed various purifi- 
catory acts, and significant ceremonies, attended, accord- 
ing to the Hindi! custom, with the recital of mantras, re- 
turn home, and commence the mourning rites, which 
properly last ten days, though they may be performed 
in a shorter time. On the last of these days, or on the 
third or fourth day after the funeral, the son or nearest 
relation of the deceased, accompanied by his kinsmen, 
proceeds to the cemetery, and with much solemnity gathers 
the bones, encloses them in a new earthen vessel or urn, 
and buries them deep in the earth. The ashes of the 
pyre are also collected, and cast into some running stream. 
With the days of mourning however, the funeral rites by 
no means terminate Various srdddhas or obsequies, with 
prayers, are to be performed in a continued course for the 
benefit of the soul of the deceased ; and to embody it 
again in some fortunate form. Gifts are also to be made 
for religious uses, and especially of a cow, and various va- 
luable articles to obtain a passage for the deceased over 

I 



214 GLOSSARY. 

Paitarani, the Hindi! Styx, or river of hell. Solemni- 
ties are next performed, to raise the soul from its purga- 
tory, or state among the dead, into the heaven of the Pi- 
tris or its ancestors, where, if admitted, it exists as a De- 
va or divinity. A course of these srdddkas, which include 
addresses and invocations to almost all the personages of the 
Hindu mythology, commences the day after the mourn- 
ing ends, and a srdddha is performed in every month for a 
year after the death. Another course is performed at the 
end of the third fortnight, and another in the sixth and 
twelfth months. In many cases, however, these are com- 
pressed, and sometimes reduced within the compass of a 
few days. The son and heir of the deceased offers annual 
oblations for his honour ; and others are also performed 
for more remote progenitors, so that the dead are never 
totally neglected or forgotten. (As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8.) 

Rajapits, more properly Rajapdtras, that is, sons of Rajahs. 
They pretend to be of the Cshatriya class, but their claims 
are not generally supposed to be well founded. They hire 
themselves to attend upon wealthy persons armed, and un- 
dertake to act as soldiers in their train. 

Rdginis. These personages are the nymphs of music, over 
whom Sereswati, the goddess of invention and science, 



GLOSSARY. 115 

and the wife of the creator Brahma, presides. Of the ori- 
gin of these nymphs, Sir William Jones, speaking of In- 
dian music, gives the following account, in the argument 
to his fine Hymn to the last-named goddess. It affords a 
curious specimen of the allegorical personifications of the 
Hindus. 

" The different position of the two semitones, in the 
scale of seven notes, gives birth to seven primary modes, 
and so the whole series consists of ten semitones ; every 
one of which may be a model- note or tonic. There are 
in nature, though not universally in practice, seventy- 
seven other modes, which may be called derivative. The 
arrangement of these is elegantly formed by the Hindus 
on the variation of the Indian year, and the association of 
ideas, a powerful auxiliary to the ordinary effects of mo- 
dulation. The modes in this system are deified; and as 
there are six seasons in India, namely, two springs, summer, 
autumn, and two winters, an original Rdga, or god of 
the mode, is attended by five Rdginis, or nymphs of har- 
mony. Each has eight sons or genii of the same art, and 
each Rdga and his family is appropriated to a particular 
season, in which alone, his melody can be sung or played 
at prescribed hours of the day and night. The mode of 
Cupitl, or Dipac the inflamer, is supposed to be lost, and 

12 



116 GLOSSARY. 

a tradition is current in Hindus? han, that a musician who 
attempted to restore it, was consumed by fire from hea- 
ven." 

Religious orders. Vide Yogi. 

Reti. Vide Q&mu. 

Sacrifices. Vide Butter. 

Sandal-wood. The santalum of Linnaeus, is a small tree, 
growing in the form of a myrtle, with leaves resembling 
privet. It principally grows in Malaya, or the hill coun- 
tries of the Decan, especially those lately conquered from 
Tippu Sultan ; so that our India Company may be said 
to possess the monopoly of an article in great request 
throughout India. The valuable part of the tree is the 
heart of the stem, and larger branches 5 which is of a red 
colour, and highly odorous ; the outer parts are white, 
and of little value From the frequent mention of it in 
the Sanscrit writings, it seems to have been much used 
by the Hindu 1 ', from the earliest ages, in the state of a 
powder to be rubbed on the skin ; when, besides its fra- 
grance, it produces a coolness extremely pleasant in hot 
climates. It is probably the aloe wood of our Scriptures. 

Sdstra, properly translated, means treatise. The word is de- 
rived from a root signifying to ordain, and is applied to 



GLOSSARY. 117 

all the books or treatises esteemed by the Hindds as sa- 
cred : thus it is a word of similar import to the word 
Scripture, as used by Christians. The books called the 
sdstras are very voluminous, and together with their nu- 
merous glosses and commentaries, the production of 
many writers of very different ages, compose a body of 
religious tracts, which may be said to be immense. It is 
agreed, that of these books, the three Vedas are by far the 
most ancient. They seem to have been compiled in an 
age possibly anterior to that of Moses, from the tradi- 
tions of patriarchal times j and when divested of their 
fabulous or allegorical garb, they appear to bear a near cor- 
respondence with the history of the Book of Genesis. 
The names of the Vedas are the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, 
and the Samaveda : with these, a fourth is now commonly 
classed, called the Afharvana Veda ; but this last seems to 
be of a later composition, and to have been compiled 
principally from the other three. Various treatises, 
considered as connected with the Vedas, but of a charac- 
ter less sacred, are known by the general names of upa- 
vedas, or inferior Vedas ; angas, or bodies of learning ; 
and upangas, or inferior angas. These compositions re- 
late to whatever knowledge may, in any way, be service- 
able to religious worship, or is connected with religion ; 



118 GLOSSARY. 

of course they include in their sweeping range, the whole 
circle of the arts and sciences. Among these may be in- 
cluded, the various books of the Dherma sdstra, or scrip- 
tures of law, of which the Institutes of Mend, as they are 
certainly most ancient, so they deservedly hold the first 
rank. This work may be termed a digest of the Hindu 
law, religious and moral. It seems to be taken from the 
Vedas, and on this account, is said to have been a revela- 
tion from Brahma. There are doubtless many interpo- 
lations, or rather additions to the original text of the work, 
which, however, a synod of Brahmins are allowed bylaw 
to make. The whole, however, the interpolations not 
excepted, is certainly of great antiquity, as is proved, ac- 
cording to the opinion of Sir William Jones, not only by 
the style, but by the glosses of a commentator, known to 
have lived in a distant age. Next to the Vedas rank the 
Piirdnas, sometimes called a fifth Veda. These are to 
the Vedas, what the legends of the Church of Rome are, 
compared with our Scriptures. They abound with nar- 
ratives which Europeans are apt to call extravagant and ab- 
surd, and, understood in a literal sense, they are truly so: 
but the fact is, they are not to be so understood $ since 
they are evidently a collection of allegories, covering un- 
der a fabulous garb, the most solemn truths of religion 



GLOSSARY. 119 

and morality, and even details of serious history. They 
are eighteen in number, and are supposed by our Sanscrit 
scholars, to have been written in an age quite modern 
compared with the Vedas ; for though the Brahmins af- 
firm, that they were written by the sage Vyasa, who 
lived prior to the age of the poet Homer, yet some of them 
bear the marks of a date so modern, as about five hun- 
dred years. The opinion of the ingenious Wilford upon 
this head, may perhaps be true. He says, " the Pur anas 
are chiefly modern compositions, formed, however, from 
ancient materials, which 1 fear no longer exist." As. 
Res. 

To learn the knowledge contained in the Sdstras, is the 
exclusive privilege of the three first classes: to teach it, is 
the peculiar right of the Brakme'ns, who are forbidden, 
under very heavy penalties, to teach it to the Sudras, and 
the greater part of the mixed classes. These, however, 
have treatises purposely for their own use, containing the 
same kinds of science and information, but divested of the 
sacred character ; and this, in the opinion of the Hindu*, 
is to divest them of their greatest value ; for they ascribe 
to a repetition of the mantras of the Sdstras, an effect 
similar to those attributed to incantations and words of 
magic. The several Sdstras, and indeed all the ancient 



120 GLOSSARY. 

Hindu compositions, are written in a language called San- 
scrit, now a dead language, and known only to a few of 
the most learned Brahmens. If a judgement may be 
formed, from the number of treatises extant in this lan- 
guage upon grammar and rhetoric, it must have been cul- 
tivated with the greatest care and study. Those who have 
learned it, describe it as possessing all the softness of the 
modern Italian, and all the fulness and elegance of the 
ancient Greek, to which, in many respects, it bears a near 
resemblance. Most of the Hindu" names are of Sa?iscrit 
derivation, and it is the basis of most of the languages 
now spoken in India. 

Seasons. Vide Versha. 

Shakdly or Shacdla, corrupted by the English into Jackall, is 
an animal nearly resembling in size and shape, that spe- 
cies of the dog called the turnspit ; in the head and tail it 
bears some resemblance to the fox. These animals herd 
together in packs of several hundreds, when, though not 
singly formidable, they became very much so from their 
numbers, committing depredations on the flocks, and dis- 
turbing the neighbourhood where they frequent, with 
their terrible howlings. They often rouse cattle from 
their lair in the night, and may cause them occasionally 
to fall a prey to the prowling lion, and thus far, and thus 



GLOSSARY. 121 

only, does the shdkal deserve the title of the Lion's Provi- 
der. In the Hitopadesa, (vide Jones' Works, Vol. vi.) the 
animal is described as cunningly mischievous ; by the Hin- 
dus it is deemed very unclean. 

Siva. Vide Mahd-Deva. 

Slaves. Perhaps no nation was ever so completely distin- 
guished into such a variety of orders or classes, as the Hin- 
du's. Of these, the four principal classes or casts, the 
Brahmen, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and Sudra, are well 
known to almost every person who has only heard of In- 
dia. The following account of their origin and peculiar 
occupations, given in the Institutes of Menu, (chap. 1 . v. 
31.) is more authentic than any usually quoted. " That 
the human race might be multiplied, He (the Creator 
Brahma) caused the Brahmen, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, 
and the Sudra, (so named from scripture, protection, 
wealth, and labour) to issue from his mouth, his arm, his 
thigh, and his foot." The origin here mentioned, often 
excites a smile in the European ; it is, however, an alle- 
gory accurately descriptive of the rank and degree of ex- 
cellence assigned to each class, and indicating the offices 
belonging to each. To the first belong the duties of in- 
struction and the religious functions ; to the second, the 
profession of arms ; to the third, the affairs of agriculture 



122 GL05SAKY. 

and traffic j and to the fourth, the duties of servitude 
to each of the other classes, but more particularly the 
Brahme'ns. A variety of distinctions are made respect- 
ing the rank and business assignable to persons born from 
a sexual intercourse between the different classes. Of 
these distinctions, it may be observed, that they all rather 
tend to a degradation, than to an elevation of ranks. But, 
notwithstanding the Sudras form the lowest, and are a 
servile order, they are not slaves, though slavery is very 
common throughout India. The most usual means by 
which persons become such, are thus enumerated by Me- 
nu (chap. 8. v. 415.): "One made captive under a stand- 
ard in battle; one maintained in consideration of service ; 
one born of a female slave in the house ; one sold, or 
given, or inherited from ancestors ; one enslaved by way 
of punishment on his inability to pay a large fine." The 
voluntary sale of the person himself, or of parts of his fa- 
mily, to obtain food in times of scarcity, is one of the 
means which at present increases most considerably the 
number of slaves in India. The condition of slavery 
among the Hindus, is not in general at present very hard ; 
the slave fares nearly like the rest of his master's family. 
What society is upon earth, such, acccording to the sys- 
tem of the Purdnas, are the ranks and degrees in swerga, 



GLOSSARY. 123 

or heaven. Hence, the gods are assigned their slaves for 
various purposes, as with monarchs and great men on 
earth; with this difference, that the heavenly slaves are of 
a celestial or spiritual nature. Among the celestial slaves, 
the Apsaras, who are heautiful females, such as the 
Houris of Mahomet, are the most celebrated. 

Surya. Vide Surya' s race. 

Surya! s race. Surya is the deity presiding in or ruling the 
sun. The historical records of the Brahmins speak of 
two lines or families of princes, one called Suryavdnsas, 
or children of the sun, the other Chandravdnsas, or child- 
ren of the moon. This distinction is rather owing, it 
may be presumed, to the religious worship peculiarly pa- 
tronised by these two families, who, on that account, 
were complimented by a flattering priesthood, w T ith the 
title of sons of the deity which each adored. In the 
opening address of the poem, Nerbudda, or Bhavdm, is 
called the pride of Sdrya's race, upon the authority of the 
following expressions of the Vayera Purdna. (i Thou art 
united with the ocean, thou art decended from Surya." 
In these, however, it is not meant that the goddess was 
born of one of these families above-mentioned, and was a 
mortal deified ; but the expression is to be understood al- 
legorically, in allusion to the succession of natural produc- 



124 GLOSSARY. 

tions -mentioned in the following passage of the Rigveda. 
(As. Res. Vol. viii. p. 406.) " The sun is born of fire ; 
the moon is born of the sun — Rain is produced from the 
moon — Lightning comes of rain, &c." The whole inti- 
mates, that the goddess Bhavdni or Nerludda, is a per- 
sonification of the highest and most important of all the 
energies of nature. Perhaps, when she is called " of Sii- 
ryds race," she is regarded in the character of the moon, 
and as the female or secondary cause of natural effects. 
Swerga. Vide Indra. 

Teic. Vide Crown. 

Transmigration. Vide Destiny. 

Tresul, is a three-pointed spear or halbert, like the trident of 
the Roman god Neptune. It is borne by Siva, and often 
affixed to the top of his temples. There seems to be good 
reason for believing, that the three points are symbolical of 
the threefold powers of the god, to whom all the powers 
of the triad are commonly ascribed by his sect. Perhaps 
the trident of Neptune, in Greek called the earth-shaking, 
signifies his authority over three elements, earth, air, 
water. 

Triad, Vide Brahmd. 

Umbrella, or Chef her, is directed to be used by magistrates, 



GLOSSARY., 125 

or princes, as an emblem of state (Gentu Law, Introd.). 
It is borne in different ways before persons of different 
ranks. As. Res. Vol. i. No. 5, 

Vahdn, or Vahdna. This is a car endowed with the power of 
self-motion, in obedience to the will or wish of the per- 
sonage to whom it belongs. Most of the Devds of the Hin- 
dus have the privilege of using a vahdna, and mortals have 
sometimes been allowed the same glorious indulgence. 
Cars were assigned to the deities of Greece and Rome ; but 
differed from those of India, in being drawn by various 
animals, and not absolutely self-moving. Thus, the car 
of Juno was drawn by peacocks ; that of Venus by doves 
or sparrows ; of Neptune by sea-horses. In the Hindu 
drama of Sacontald, king Dushmanta is borne through 
the air in the vahdna of Indra ; and the legends of Greece 
speak of similar honours granted to their own votaries. 
The sorceress Medea had a vahdna of her own, drawn by 
dragons. The ingenious Wilford writes, that the English 
word Waggon is derived from vahdna, through some of the 
dialects of India. Perhaps the Sanscrit might enable our 
philologists to trace many words beyond the languages of 
Rome or Greece. 

Fata. This name is given to several species of the fig, as the 
ficus religiosa, the fie us Bengalensis, and the ficus Indica, 



126 GLOSSARY. 

with some others. These are all held sacred by the Brah- 
rnens, and especially the first, called by them the Pippd- 
la, (A. Res. Vol. iv. No. 27.). The ficus Indica may with 
confidence be pronounced to be one of the most curious 
productions of the vegetable world, on account of the ex- 
traordinary manner in which it extends its growth. Its 
branches spread very wide, about eighteen or twenty feet 
from the stem, and then bending down the extremities 
thicken, and continually approach nearer to the earth, 
probably from a .collection of the retarded circulation of 
the sap. When they reach the ground they put forth 
roots, and the branches become a stem or trunk, growing 
to the size of the largest European oaks or elms. The 
branches, having thus become trees, again shoot out 
branches bending down, and rooting as before, still ex- 
tending themselves, often till the whole plant covers a 
very large space of ground. One of these grove-like trees 
growing on an island in the Nerhidda river, about ten 
miles from Baroach, in the province of Guzerat, has three 
hundred and fifty principal stems, each as large as timber 
trees ; and these occupy a space two thousand feet in cir- 
cumference, and the branches, whose hanging extremi- 
ties have not yet reached the ground, extend much far- 
ther. This tree was once much larger than it is at pre- 



GLOSSARY. 127 

sent, for many of the stems have been carried off by the 
floods of the river, which have washed away part of the 
soil of the island. The natives affirm, that it is three 
thousand years old, and very possibly it may; since, when 
any of the older central stems decay and leave a vacant 
space, this is in time re-occupied by fresh stems, pro- 
duced by the branches growing and rooting, as in the 
outer sides of the grove. A plant possessing such proper- 
ties as these, may be justly termed immortal. Sanctity 
is very probably ascribed to this tree, because of its aptness 
to represent the emanation of living beings from the pa- 
rent, or Creator Brahma, who, having received the prin- 
ciple of life from the Great Supreme Brahme, produced, 
by a succession of agents, all the worlds, and all creatures, 
both animate and inanimate. (Menu, chap. 1.) The 
Brahmins, however, assign a reason for the sanctity of 
this plant, more suited to the understandings of the vul- 
gar 3 and affirm, that Vishnu, the preserver, was born un- 
der its shade. Under this legend is couched an ingenious 
allegory, significative of the salutary shade afforded by its 
branches, impervious to the rays of the sun. On account of 
the reputed sanctity of the tree, pagodas or temples are com- 
monly erected beneath, or contiguous to its shade; in some 
instances, one of these trees is planted within the area 



128 GLOSSARY. 

of the principal court of -the pagoda. (As. Res. Vol. v. 
No. 20.) The yogi's, or religious ascetics, practise their 
austerities near it for the same reason, and any injury done 
to a twig or leaf is considered as a crime scarcely less 
atrocious than murder. Both the other species of the 
ficus ahove- mentioned, though less remarkable in their 
growth than the ficus Indica, resemble it in the rooting of 
their extreme branches, (Martyn's Edit, of Millar's Gar- 
dener's Diet, ad voc. Ficus) and are held sacred probably 
for that very reason ; though some ascribe the sanctity of 
the ficus religiosa to the brown colour of the female 
flowrets, which bears some allusion to the preserver 
Vishnu 1 . . 
Varuna is one of the eight guardian deities, and is the ruling 
lord of waters, chiefly those of streams and straits of the 
ocean. As waters are conducive to the general operations 
of natural causes, Varuna is said, in the mingling allego- 
ries of Hindu mythology, to be the husband of BhavdnL 
He is, however, inferior to the great monarch of the 
ocean, obscurely known to be the mighty Siva ; and this 
inferiority is indicated, by the manner in which he is usually 
represented in the pagodas ; sitting on the back of a ma- 
rine monster resembling the crocodile, but with his legs 
bent under him, a posture of adoration or homage in all 



GLOSSARY. 129 

the countries of India. " Varuna" says Mewd (chap. 7. 
v. 245,) " is lord of punishment, he holds a rod even over 
kings." Why he should be so considered, except that of- 
fenders were sometimes punished by drowning, is not easy 
to be conjectured. 

Veda. Vide Scistra. 

Vene, or Vina, is a sort of guitar consisting of a finger-board 
21| inches long, large hollowed gourds fixed at each end, 
and seven strings or wires passing over the whole length, 
after the manner of European violins. It is a pleasing in- 
strument, and the best belonging to the Hindus. It is 
supposed to have been anciently more perfect than at pre- 
sent, (As. Res. Vol. i. No. 13,) and the grounds for this 
opinion, are similar to those urged by the advocates for the 
superiority of ancient Grecian over modern European 
music. 

Versha. The Hindis divide their time into years of 365 
days, six hours, twelve minutes, and some seconds. At 
present, their year begins about the vernal equinox; but 
anciently it commenced about the winter solstice, as with 
the generality of European nations, both ancient and mo- 
dern. The year is subdivided into six ritus, or seasons of 
two months each. Of these, vasanta, or the spring, be- 
gins about the middle of February, and lasts till the mid- 
dle of April; Grishma, or the hot season, lasts till the mid- 

K 



130 GLOSSAKY. 

die of June; Versha, or the rainy season, till the middle 
of August ; Sardda, or the sultry season, till the middle 
of October ; Hernanta, or the winter, till the middle of 
December ; and Sisira, or the dewy season, till the mid- 
dle of February. (Vide Jones's Supplement to Essay on 
Hindu Chronology.) The difference of latitude of the se- 
veral countries of Hindibst'hdn, and the position of moun- 
tains and highlands, occasion, in many parts, a consider- 
able variation of the seasons from this system, especially 
in the provinces of the Decdn. It is, however, suitable to 
the provinces contiguous to the lower parts of the course 
of the Ganges, and in those provinces was probably 
invented, perhaps at Mat'hura in Agra, or at Delhi. 

The Hindu time is further subdivided into months of 
thirty, or thirty-one days each ; into weeks of seven days, 
with names of exactly the same import, as those used in 
ancient and modern Europe, but which in India, it is 
evident, were derived from the fancies concerning the as- 
trological influences of the stars. Each day is divided into 
sixty parts of twenty-four minutes, which are distinguished 
into three day and three night watches, after the manner 
of the Jews and several other ancient nations. The fes- 
tivals, and all the religious ceremonies of the Hindtis, are 
regulated by the lunations, or monthly courses of the moon, 
and by tit'his, or lunar days, consisting of the time which 



GLOSSARY. 131 

elapses, during the passage of the moon through portions 
of her orbit of twelve degrees each, into which it is di- 
vided. Hence it is obvious, that the tit* hi, or lunar day, 
will not correspond with the solar day, but may begin at 
noon, or at midnight, or any hour whatever. This occa- 
sions considerable difficulties, with respect to the proper 
times for the observance of religious ceremonies. They 
are, however, in a great measure removed by the Hindu 
almanacs, in which these matters are determined, gene- 
rally on principles sufficiently arbitrary, by the Brahmen 
astronomers. The Purdnas represent each of these tit* his 
or lunar days, as a beautiful nymph, and give very flowery 
and allegorical descriptions of them, according to their 
usual manner of personifying every object which can by 
any means be considered as distinct. It may be proper to 
mention, that the lunar year of the Brahmens com- 
mences at the autumnal equinox, as did the patriarchal, or 
antediluvian year, and also the year of the Israelites, pre- 
vious to their departure out of Egypt. 
Vishnu. Vide Maha Deva. 

Vishnu as the sun. — The sun is called in the Vdrdha Purdna, 

a form of Vishnu, and according to this and the Matsya 

'■ Purdnas, he rises on the fourteenth of the lunar month 

cartica, (corresponding nearly with our October) from his 

sleep of four months 5 according to other Purdnas, on 

K2 , 



132 GLOSSARY. 

the eleventh of Bhadra, or September. " Vishnu sleep- 
ing turns his side." (Jones on the Lunar Year.) These 
allegories are doubtless expressive of the effects of the 
sun on the vegetation in the Gangetic provinces, which 
are inundated during the four months of what is called 
the sleep of Vishnu. This takes place according to the 
allegory when the beams of the sun are generally obscured 
by clouds. 

Ydma is one of the eight deities, distinguished, according 
to Menu, by the title of guardian deities, from the parti- 
cular concern they bear in the government of the world. 
He is said to be the child of the sun, and his particular of- 
fice is the government of the regions of the dead, where 
he sits as judge over the souls of the dying, and assigns to 
each, its proper reward or punishment. According to the 
Hindu legends, the ministers of this god attend each 
person at his death, and convey him, if he has been virtu- 
ous and good, in a delightful self-moving car, or vahdna, 
to the tribunal of the judge, who, under the title ofDher- 
ma Raja, or the king of justice, receives the departed 
good spirit with a smiling countenance, and regulates his 
reward or recompense, according to his individual merit, 
placing him in a higher rank and more happy condition 
upon earth, or assigning him a residence for a limited 



GLOSSARY. 133 

term of years in the Swerga or heaven of Indra ; after 
which, he again returns to the earth and undergoes new 
trials of duty and obedience. The award ofMdctt, or the 
admission into the highest heaven, from whence the soul 
never more returns to life upon earth, seems to be made 
only by deities of a higher order than Ydma, and is, per- 
haps, the gift of one of the three personages of the Tri- 
murti, or Triad alone. But, if the dying person has led a 
wicked life, the messengers of Ydma then hurry him over 
mountains, rocks, tempestuous seas, and the like, with 
ignominy, violence, and pain, into the presence of the 
judge; who, under the title of Ydma, receives him with a 
terrible aspect, and assigns him to sufferings in the various 
hells or places of punishment, of which, according to Me- 
nd ch. 4. v. 88, there are twenty-one, till the stains of past 
offences shall have been removed, and the offender be ren- 
dered by this purgatory, not unworthy of divine favour, 
and to be again permitted to live upon the earth ; usually, 
on his first return, under the form of some plant or baser 
animal. Ydma is called regent of the south, by which 
term the Brahmins understand the regions of darkness, or 
the infernal regions, a fancy they probably adopted in 
those ages, when it is believed they inhabited countries of 
higher latitude than India, upon observing, that the days 



134 GLOSSARY. 

were shortened when the sun moved toward the southern 
tropic. In these various characteristics, it is very easy to 
trace the character of the Cretan Minos, and to perceive 
also that the Hindu Ydma is a being purely allegorical. 
As the sun is the principal cause of the life, growth, ma- 
turity and decay of vegetables, and in a certain degree, of 
animals also : there is a peculiar propriety in representing 
the god of the dead as the son of that luminary; it is 
merely a personification of cause and effect. The pleas- 
ing or terrible aspect of this deity, and the characters of 
the ministers conducting the soul to Ydma, are alle- 
gorical expositions of the different feelings of the good and 
wicked at the hour of death, and of the comforts or ter- 
rors of a good or of a bad conscience. The doctrine of 
judgement after death, might be supposed to have been 
borrowed from the Christian revelation, were it not cer- 
tain, that the same belief was entertained by the Greeks 
long before the birth of our Saviour ; it must therefore be 
admitted, that the fables, both of Greece and India, were 
the result of a true knowledge concerning this subject, 
clearly and familiarly understood by the first patriarchs, 
but almost wholly lost, at least to the heathen world, till 
it was revived and brought to light by the gospel. 
Yamuna, a river in upper Hindusfhdn, commonly called the 



GLOSSARY. 135 

Jumma, flowing into the Ganges in the vicinity of Delhi. 
In the Gita-govinda, it is called the daughter of the sun 
and sister of Ydma. Its waters are esteemed very sa- 
cred. 
Yogi. No men can be more fond of nice distinctions, and 
fine, often frivolous discriminations, than the Hindis, 
This passion for discrimination has shown itself even in 
regard to the different degrees of the religious affections, 
and these serve to confer different titles, or, speaking the 
language of universities, degrees, upon the persons in 
whom these different degrees of piety are believed to exist. 
Of these, three are particularly distinguished in the sacred 
Sdstras by the names or titles of Muni, Pandit , and Yogi. 
The Muni is, among the Hindus, what a philosopher was 
with the Greeks, one deeply versed in the principles of 
moral and religious duty, which he taught and discussed 
to his disciples and hearers. The Pandit is a person, who 
has improved a thorough knowledge of the moral and re- 
ligious laws, by the diligent exercise of the mind in reli- 
gious meditations, and a due regulation of the affections ; 
and is supposed, by these means, to have attained to a very 
high eminence both in wisdom and integrity. On this 
account, Pandits are alone allowed to plead as counsellors 
in the Hindti courts of judicature, for which office, were 



136 GLOSSARY. 

they always such as their title imports, they would indeed 
be most proper. 

The Yogi is a person, who, to all the foregoing quali? 
fications, has superadded the power of employing the 
mind in the most profound and mystic meditations upon 
the Deity, and is supposed to have become so deeply abs- 
tracted from the objects of sense, as to be joined in soul 
to the divine nature. To this his character, he owes his 
name : the word Yogi being derived from the substantive 
Yoga or Yuga, which signifies union or joining. But al- 
though the character or degree of Yogi is supposed to be 
the result of the acquirements and habits of the Muni and 
Pandita, yet those degrees are not thought to be neces- 
sarily preparatory to this; and certainly many persons 
claim the title of Yogi, without any pretensions to those 
of Muni and Pandita, which indeed is granted to any one 
who can be supposed, by any means whatever, to have ac- 
quired a mental or spiritual union with the Deity. To 
this end, the austerities of the ascetic are supposed to be 
peculiarly, and indeed almost exclusively conducive ; and 
owing to this opinion, the name has been applied as a ge- 
neral term, signifying all the various orders of Hindu de-. 
votees, who perform acts of personal mortification from 
religious motives. All these are, from a supposition of 



GLOSSARY. 137 

their eminent piety and union with the Deity, by medita- 
tion, termed Yogis. Fakir or Fakeer, is another name 
given them by Europeans, but it is only properly applica- 
ble to the devotees of the religion of Mahomet. 

It is difficult, in the present state of our knowledge of 
the several orders and descriptions of Yogis, to describe, 
or even enumerate, the vast variety which have arisen 
among the disciples of Brahma, since the fears or follies 
of superstition first led men beyond the rational bounds 
of penitential devotion, into the extravagances of the 
ascetic. It is known, however, that the Jangamas are 
followers of Siva, who do not acknowledge the authority of 
the Brahmins , and that the Pandarams are Sudras devoted 
to the worship of the same deity. The like may be, per- 
haps, safely affirmed by the Nagis. The Satananas are 
worshippers of Vishnu, The order of Sanyassis are divided 
in their worship of these two gods. The Viragis, or By- 
ragees, as they are often called by persons less conversant 
in the Sanscrit, are an order of religious composed of per- 
sons, either dedicated to the service of the Deity in cir- 
cumstances similar to those which devoted Samuel, the 
prophet of Israel, to the service of the Lord ; or else the 
descendants of such persons. The Gosseyns, that is, the 
Gauda-swamis or great lords, are another powerful order 
of religious, the rivals of the Byragis-y because, in conse- 



138 GLOSSARY. 

quence of near equality in power and eminence, they fre- 
quently have occasion to contest with them the question 
of precedency. (See Captain Hardwicke's Journey to Siri- 
nagur. As. Res. Vol. vi.) But although of these, and 
other similar orders, no very complete and authentic ac- 
counts have hitherto been obtained by Europeans ; yet, 
as they may all be supposed to have sprung from the four 
religious orders described by Menu, an idea tolerably ex- 
act may be formed of them, from what is written in the 
Institutes, which are, on this account, particularly worthy 
of attention* 

The first of these orders is that of the Bramachari, that 
is, of the youthful or boyish student, who reads the Veda, 
and learns the practice of religious rites and duties, under 
the direction of a Grirti or religious preceptor. Into this 
order the young Hindu may be admitted at the age of nine 
years* and he may continue in it twenty or thirty years 
till he be sufficiently learned, or till he may choose to 
marry. During this time his diet must be simple, his dress 
plain, and his demeanor sober and respectful, and his ha- 
bits partaking not of absolute austerity, but yet of a con- 
siderable degree of hardihood. 

The next order is called Gerisht, and consists in a con- 
tinuance of the duties of the Br ahmachan, which persons 
entering into this order assume during life, with some ad- 



GLOSSARY. 139 

ditional observances. But the Institutes do not seem to 
approve this practice : they rather exhort the Brahmdcharz 
to enter into what they term the order of the householder, 
or married man, a state not properly ascetic ; for its du- 
ties consist wholly in a diligent attention to the common 
concerns of life and the management of a family, attended 
with the practice of liberality and benevolence, and the 
continual and punctual performance of the various rites of 
worship, whence the order is sometimes termed the order 
of the sacrificer. 

The next order is truly ascetic, and the devotees be- 
longing to it are properly Yogis. The Institutes direct 
the. Hindu to enter upon this when he begins to decline 
into the vale of years, and sees the son of his son. He is 
then bid to relinquish worldly concerns and worldly en- 
joyments ; to retire into a forest, and, with others of the 
same order, pass the whole of his time in devotional exer- 
cises, such as prayer, ablution, and sacrifice, and the prac- 
tice of acts of personal severity and mortification. These 
may be increased till the body be wholly exhausted, and 
the voluntary sufferer expire. These acts consist princi- 
pally in frequent and long-continued fasts, in exposure to 
the inclemencies of the season, and in painful and trou- 
blesome postures. The accounts given by the Greeks who 
attended Alexander the Great into India, prove the great 



140 GLOSSARY. 

antiquity of these practices; and numberless instances of 
the same in the present times, prove the almost immuta- 
bility of Hindu manners, and render it impossible to 
doubt the testimony of Alexander's Greeks respecting 
' these austerities, which, but for the evidence of undenia- 
ble facts, might be justly termed incredible. The Euro- 
pean of the present age beholds these practices with pity, 
wonder, and astonishment, sensations which have been 
excited in the breasts of Europeans occasionally visiting 
Hindus f hdn at various times, during a period exceeding 
two thousand years. 

The austerities to be practised by the Yogi, or religious 
devotee of the third order, are thus prescribed by Menu : 
" Let him slide backwards and forwards on the ground ; 
or let him stand a whole day on tiptoe ; or let him conti- 
nue in motion rising and sitting alternately; but at sun-rise, 
noon, and sun-set, let him go to the waters and bathe. In 
the hot season, let him sit exposed to five fires, four blaz- 
ing round him with the sun above ; in the rains, let 
him stand uncovered, even without a mantle, where the 
clouds pour the heaviest showers ; in the cold season, let 
him wear a humid vesture ; and let him increase by de- 
grees the austerity of devotion, performing his ablutions 
at the three Savanas (the sacrifice or oblation to fire, di- 
rected to be performed three times a day. Rdmayana,Sect. 



GLOSSARY. 141 

12.). Let him give satisfaction to fire, to the manes, and to 
the gods ; and enduring harsher and harsher mortifications, 
let him dry up his bodily frame ; let him live without a 
mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruits, or a 
scanty pittance received as alms ; chaste as a student ; sleep- 
ing on the bare earth, in the haunts of pious hermits, 
without one selfish affection ; dwelling at the roots of trees, 
occasionally studying, for the purpose of uniting his soul 
to the divine spirit, the various upanishads of scripture. 
Should these severities bring on incurable disease, let him 
advance in a straight path toward the invincible north- 
eastern point, feeding on water and air, till his mortal 
frame decay, and his soul be united to the Supreme." 
Menu, ch. 6. v. 22, 23, 24, 29, 31. The exhortation to 
a gradual increase of the austerity of these devotions, will 
be found to authorise the varieties of exercises different 
from those here described ; it seems, however, principally 
to relate to the continued repetition of sacred texts, which 
are counted by beads, in the manner of the Ave Marias of 
the Romanists, and the observance of fasts. Of the fasts 
variously distinguished both by severity and continuance, 
that which is called the Chandrayana y or monthly, is one 
of the most severe. During this fast, the devotee eats 
only fifteen mouthfuls on the first day of the moon, and 
diminishes these till only one is taken on the day of the 



142 GLOSSARY. 

full, after which, the number of mouthfuls is increased to 
the end of the month to fifteen ; or he begins with one 
mouthful and increases the number to fifteen, and then 
regularly diminishes the number to one on the last day of 
the moon. Menu, chap. 11. v. 21, 22, &c. 

The fourth religious order is that of an anchoret or 
Sannydssi, so called from the Sanscrit word Sannydssa, 
signifying, forsaking the world. The devotee of this or- 
der wholly forsakes society, and lives without a compa- 
nion $ he ceases also to perform any religious rites, or to 
practise the austerities of the hermit, and is supposed to 
be chiefly employed in mystic meditation, endeavouring to 
abstract his attention from worldly objects. To thia end, 
he sits motionless, with his eyes turned toward the extre- 
mity of his nose, and thus endeavours to become united, 
(as the Sastras speak) with the Supreme. His dress must 
consist of a coarse vesture, and his beard, hair, and nails, 
unlike those of the hermit, must be pared and cut. He 
may eat only once a day, and then sparingly, of such food 
as may be accidentally given him ; his manners must be 
those of humility and meekness, and he must carefully 
avoid hurting or killing any animal, even the minutest 
insect. 

There is much impropriety in calling these exercises pe- 
nitential, as though they were undertaken for the expia- 



-■' 



GLOSSARY. 143 

tion of sinful offences. The Yogi acts from higher mo- 
tives, than the wish to escape punishment ; he is emulous 
of obtaining the highest eminence in the next state of 
existence, or of being perfectly and eternally happy in an 
union with the Supreme Being, and of returning no more 
into a state of trouble and trial upon earth. Sometimes, 
however, and perhaps often, the austerities of the Yogi 
are undertaken from worldly motives. It is believed, that 
the most difficult undertakings may be achieved by means 
of powers obtainable through these practices. Menu* affirms, 
that the creator Brahma became enabled to produce the 
world, and that other eminent personages gave birth to 
man and all creatures, through the same means. The 
Pur anas, more modern in composition, and less pure in 
doctrine, teach that it is possible, by these means, to ob- 
tain the faculty of working even bad purposes, and that 
not only good, but bad beings, have thus become enabled 
to accomplish their several designs. To these motive* 
maybe added another, which seems to have induced many 
modern Yogis to enter upon these habits, namely, the 
gratification of vanity and ambition. These purposes, de- 
votional austerities are calculated most effectually indeed 
to promote ; for the itogi is commonly considered as a 
being of an order superior to man ; is almost worshipped 



144 GLOSSARY. 

as a god, and is obeyed often with an obedience more im- 
plicit and faithful than worldly power can secure to the 
most mighty monarch. 
Yuga. Vide Chronology. 

Zenadr. This is the name of what is called in the Institutes 
the sacrifical thread, which is a band hanging round the 
neck, and placed differently in different parts of the cere- 
monies of sacrifice, to whose efficacy it is supposed most 
materially to contribute It is composed of three threads, 
of a length just sufficient to be put over the head. That 
worn by the Brahmen , is directed to be made of cotton ; 
that of the Cshatriya of sdna, thread only; that of a 
Vaisya, of woollen thread. Menu, chap. 2. v. 24. The 
ceremony of investiture with the Zenadr is very solemn, 
and is preparatory to their instruction in the Veda, and 
their admission to the rites of sacrifice. The Sudras, ne- 
ver being allowed to attend at sacrifices, are never invested 
with the Zenadr. 



THE END. 



Printeed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge, 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




